


Judy & Shion

by Benfrosh



Series: Judy & Shion [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, light fluffy college fic, no not that shion uzuki, total coincidence i SWEAR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 33,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7065190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benfrosh/pseuds/Benfrosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A light fluffy story about two of my 100% original characters at college.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How They Met

Shion looked up from her computer. Nope. Still no one. Sighing, she looked back at her laptop. It was an hour into the two hour tutoring period for the day, and so far absolutely not a single student had shown up yet. It seemed like a fun job when she applied for it - it was hard to get work period, and TA jobs as a sophomore even more so. But this year a lot of off-campus students had signed up for the Introduction to Computer Science classes, and the professors needed all the assistance they could with grading and helping people out. Shion had gladly offered to cover lab tutoring hours on Friday night, since no one else wanted to and it wasn't like she was going to have any other plans. But as she was discovering, the homework for the class was due on Tuesdays, and no one bothered to even look at the homework four days ahead, let alone come in to ask questions or work on it. So - this part of the job became sitting around for two hours and waiting. Quite exciting.

It's not like Shion needed excitement in her life - far from it. In fact, that was where she wanted to be. Far from any excitement, whatsoever. It's just... she really liked helping people out. Seeing the look of delight on their faces as they got a key insight, hearing a sigh of relief as they get through a stressful part, or even just being there when they're toiling away as emotional support made Shion feel good. So it wasn't so much a bad experience as it was a wasted one. Oh well. At least it gave her time to work on some of her own personal projects. She had recently picked up a Roomba to experiment with, and was working on a program for it to hook up with a webcam to use some visual data to help it navigate. Crude and not particularly original, but she had some ideas for how to use a cheap webcam and some image processing tricks to generate a three-dimensional model of the-

"Hello? Did I miss tutoring hours?"

Shion jumped with a start from her reverie. She heard someone walking down the hallway towards the computer lab, and a voice again: "Shit, what room was it in again? Was it A7332 or A7323? Or... gah, why doesn't my phone have signal down here..." Shion got up from her seat and went to the hallway to see who it was.

It was a girl - black haired with red tips, dressed in a dark shirt and jeans with a bright red belt. She was carrying a laptop bag with a giant sticker on it saying "THE TERRAFORMERS" with lightning shooting across beneath it. Poking at her phone, she grimaced at it, mumbling, "Friggin' piece of junk... 'anytime, anywhere' my ass..."

"Uh, hi," Shion managed to get out. "Are you looking for something?"

The girl turned to Shion. "Oh, hey! Didn't notice you there, sorry. Yeah, uh, I was looking for the place for tutoring hours for CS 0? Do you know where that is?"

"You're in luck! It's right here, and I'm the tutor for tonight."

"Oh, awesome! Let me get my laptop set up and I can start asking you some questions about the homework?"

"Sounds good! Do you want to work on one of the lab computers instead? They should have Python already installed and set up, if that'll be easier for you."

"Nah, I think I have it working right on ol' Bessy here. I got it set up during class on Thursday, so it should be working."

"Great! I'll be on my computer if you need anything then."

"Sounds good! I'm Judy, by the way."

"Oh, my name's Shion. Good luck with the homework!" 

Shion positively beamed as Judy went in to the lab to find an open spot to set up her laptop. Someone to actually help! O, frabjuous day! Callooh! Callay! It seemed like an odd thing even to her to be so excited about, but -

"Is this your laptop here? Is it okay if I set up right next to it?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure!" Shion scrambled back to her chair; she wasn't going to be much help just congratulating herself. As Judy started getting her laptop ready - a Macbook? - Shion realized that she had no idea what to do now. Just ignoring Judy felt kind of awkward when it was just the two of them, but she didn't know what to do for smalltalk...

Judy shook her head. "Sorry if I'm distracting you or anything, you don't have to worry about me. This dang laptop just takes forever to boot."

"Oh, no, it's okay. I was just zoning out a little there, sorry. That's a nice Macbook you have there, though."

"Thanks! I normally use it for recording and arranging, but it proved handy for this class."

"Oh, are you a musician?"

"Yeah! I'm a music major over at Levins, and I'm in a rock band on the side." Judy reached over to the side of her chair to bring up her laptop bag and pointed at the TERRAFORMERS sticker. "That's us!"

"The Terraformers?"

"According to our lead singer it has to be pronounced - ", and Judy took a deep breath, " - THE TERRAFORMERS!" she growled. Shion couldn't help but giggle. "It's silly when I do it, but he has a real way of making it sound cool when he does it."

"No, you did a good job. Very intimidating."

"Yeah, that's me. Rough and tumble, grrr," Judy said playfully as she scowled. "Oh, cool, it's finally booted. I'll poke at the homework for a bit and ask you when I get stuck, okay?"

"Sounds good. I'll be here!"

Technically, Shion was only required to be here for another hour, but if Judy couldn't finish the assignment in time Shion couldn't exactly turn away her first tutee ever. She went back to her computer to review the assignment quickly so she could be prepped for any questions Judy might ask. Internally, she breathed a sigh of relief though. That smalltalk went really well. Judy seemed like a really friendly person, and... pretty cute on top, too, Shion thought as she blushed a little. 

Shion had never had a girlfriend before. High school was... complicated, and she'd been too much of a shutin most of freshman year to go out and socialize with people. Sure, she had a few friends she played videogames with, but no one she was interested in (or was interested in her). She liked to dream, but she never really ever got the chance to meet people, let alone work up the courage to suggest anything. Oh well. At least there were plenty of cute anime girls on Tumblr.

"So, what's your major, anyways? I presume computer science, you being here and all," Judy asked.

"Oh! Uh, actually I'm an engineering major doing some computer science courses for my concentration. I'm aiming for specializing in robotics."

"Oh, wow, that sounds really cool!" Judy gasped. "What kind of project are you working on now?" 

"For class, I'm studying circuit designs and things like that, but for a personal project right now I'm trying to teach a Roomba how to recognize obstacles visually."

"Duuuuuuuuuude! Like, are you going to attach a camera to it?"

"That's the plan, but I can't really afford much of a camera at the moment, so I'm studying some things to see how I can get good images with a really bad camera."

"That sounds really cool! You'll have to tell me more if the project goes well."

"... Yeah, totally. I'll be here every Friday, so you'll know where to find me."

"Livin' up the nightlife at John Ford, I see," Judy said with a giggle.

"Yeah, you could say that."

It was hard to believe, but... Shion was having fun talking to Judy. The horror.

Time passed. Judy seemed to be plowing through the homework at a solid clip, asking a few clarifying questions here and there. The homework this week was pretty easy, meant to build some basic principles to give a good grounding on the class, so Shion wasn't surprised but glad to see Judy was getting it regardless. 

"It's kinda weird to be the only one here, honestly." Judy proclaimed while stretching after completing another part of the homework. 

"Sorry, I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or any-" 

"No, it's not that, it's just... I figured other people would be here to get the homework out of the way, you know?"

"I mean, it's not due until Tuesday, right? Are you going to be busy all weekend?"

"Yeah, actually! Here, for being here for moral support..." Judy reached down into her laptop bag again and fished around for a while, eventually pulling a ticket. "Here! My band's first gig is this weekend! We're going to be playing at the Levins coffee shop."

Shion took the ticket from her. Sure enough, THE TERRAFORMERS - Live At The Hothouse Coffeshop - Saturday 8:00 PM. "Oh, that's really cool! Is it okay if I, just, take this..."

"Yeah, totally! We're trying to get lots of people to show up to spread the word and get us out there. It's our first gig and all, so it's gonna be a big thing for us. Can you make it there?"

... It'd be an excuse to see Judy again, and Shion was thinking she'd really like to. "Yeah, definitely!"

"Awesome! I'm gonna bang out the rest of this homework then."

"Sounds like a plan."

Shion could hardly believe herself though. Did she just agree to go to a concert? Weekend plans? Insane. But... this one time, she felt like she had to grab life by the horns. Maybe... maybe something good would come of it?

"Oh, woops, that last part was easy. Guess I'm done, then." Judy closed up her laptop and began packing it up.

"Oh, cool! I-" Shion glanced at the clock. 15 minutes left in the tutoring hours. Darn. "- have to stay here another 15 minutes, unfortunately. ... See you at the concert tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah! Hope you can make it!"

"... Yeah! Me too."

Judy, laptop bag proudly advertising THE TERRAFORMERS slung over her shoulder, hustled out the door, off to wherever she was heading for the night. Shion went back to her laptop and wondered... maybe?


	2. The Concert

"See you Midori! I'm heading out."

"Really? Where you going? Team project or something?" replied Midori. Shion's roommate from freshman year that she was paired up with again. The two of them had little in common, honestly - Midori was a biology major looking to go into biotech, Shion was a robotics focus in engineering, Midori had lots of friends, Shion had four, Midori did things, Shion didn't. But they didn't get in each other's way, they didn't mess up each other's spaces, and they got along surprisingly well. All you could ask for, really.

"No, I'm actually going to a concert someone invited me to." Shion had tried to dress up for the occasion - as well as she could, at least. She had a bolero jacket she was fond of wearing, a red top someone once said she looked good in, and a pair of 'special occasion' capri pants. Hopefully it looked nice?

Midori's eyes widened a little. "Hey, good luck. I make fun of you sometimes, but I'm glad to see you trying to branch out a little."

"Thanks, Midori," Shion said with a smile. "How do I look? I barely know what I'm doing."

"Dressing to impress someone?"

"... yeah. She's the lead guitarist of the band, who invited me to the concert."

"You look fantastic. Just be confident in yourself and that'll do half the work for you."

"How do you do it? You always seem like you're able to impress people."

"Because I've convinced myself I'm the most awesome person in the world and that I deserve everything. The best guys love ego."

"Do girls love ego?"

"Ask yourself. What do you look for?"

"... Okay, yeah. I think I have an idea then. I think I got this."

"If things go badly, call me and I can get a friend to pick you up."

"Thanks, I think I've got this though. I'm just heading to Levins."

"That's good. I'd be worried if you're walking very far late at night on your own. Take care of yourself, and good luck!"

"Thanks!" said Shion as she stepped out the door.

The door swung back open as Shion came back in, put on her boots, and left again. Midori sighed to herself and went back to her homework.

\----

"Okay guys, we got this. First live gig ever, but we're trained. We're prepared. We're gonna bring the roof DOWN!" Ned, lead vocalist of THE TERRAFORMERS, could barely restrain himself as his whole body shook with energy. Or anxiety. One or the other. He always seemed to have two modes - serious diligent economics student during the day, PARTY HARD ANIMAL at night. 

"Yeah! We got this!" Judy pumped her fists. 

"Gonna show them what we can do, kick things up a notch or two." Rain the drummer had a weird habit of rhyming. She always blamed her parents for raising her to be a poet. She's a literature major at Levins now, so it kind of worked.

"Wooo." Andy the bassist was always a wet blanket. He never told the rest of the band what his major was actually. Or what he was doing. Or really anything. Judy suspected he might not even be a student sometimes. But he was damn good on the bass, so, wet blanket under the bridge.

Ned nodded his head. "Let's go over the setlist one more time before we do final checks. Judy, everything set up correctly?"

"Yep. Came in earlier to make sure the speaker system was still working, and all the stuff should be hooked up now." Judy had been worrying all day that something would go wrong, actually. It was their first big performance - she wanted to make sure it went off without a snatch.

"Alright, good to hear it. I've got the paper with the setlist here..."

As they continued to prep for the concert. Judy couldn't help but feel a bit sheepish. She had been so busy all week she had forgotten to actually give out the free tickets they were planning to. Well, except for the one for that girl the other day, Shion. Judy really hoped she'd make it at least - she didn't want to be a complete failure on that regard. Besides, if Shion showed up, 100% success rate! That had to count for something.

The band went out on stage to scattered applause as they ran through the sound check on all the instruments. A few people had already showed up and grabbed seats at the various tables and sofas around the room. Scanning around, Judy didn't see any trace of Shion. There was still time until the concert started - she was probably just going to show up in a few minutes. For the time being, she needed to focus and make sure she was prepared. Deep breaths...

\---

Shion cursed herself under her breath. How could she get lost?! Her dorm was three blocks away from the coffee shop tops, there was barely any distance to get lost in... she was hoping to get to the place early to secure a cozy corner for herself, but now she had no idea what it was going to be like. Plus it was getting cold and later and aaaargh oh there it is. Phew. Shion knew she was heading the right way the whole time. She had never been to the coffee shop before - she had heard about it once or twice but it was never on the way to anything she was going to, and she never took the time to check it out before. Now was as good a time as any, she guessed. She walked in the front door to find a barista manning the front desk. "Hi! Here for the concert?"

"Hi! Uh, yeah, one second," said Shion as she rifled through her pockets. "Oh, here it is. Here you go." 

"Thanks! This comes with a complimentary drink - do you want coffee or hot cocoa?"

"I, uh, I'd love some coffee, if that's okay." If that's okay?! She just offered it! Shion kicked herself a little. Why was she so awkward? God, even just talking to people wore her out sometimes. She remembered why she went out so little - talking to people she wasn't comfortable with was so frustrating sometimes... but, talking to Judy went well. And maybe this would be fun! Maybe. Somehow. Oh no. Well, no turning back now. Right?

Coffee in hand, Shion made her way into the side room of the coffee shop. It was surprisingly spacious - the crowd wasn't quite as thick as she dreaded, and she was able to find a chair in the corner where no one could sit next to her. Just the way she liked it. Looking on the stage, she saw THE TERRAFORMERS finishing up their final preperations. The concert was supposed to start any minute by her phone, so that made sense. Watching the band, she saw Judy look her way for a second and, before she even realized it, found herself waving at Judy. She blushed embarrassed when she realized what she had done, but Judy saw her, smiled, and waved back. At this point, Shion was dead, blushing beet red. She was incredibly thankful for being in the back now. 

If she hadn't realized it before, she definitely realized it now - she had a crush on Judy, despite having just met her. She seemed cute and energetic and happy and... fun! Someone Shion would really like to be with, and someone who actually gave her the willpower to go do this weird and crazy thing and make her wave at a performer up on stage, even if they weren't performing quite yet. She didn't know quite what to do, but... she's here now, and watching Judy perform, and maybe once this is done she can go talk to Judy? Maybe ask her on a date or something? Is she even interested? God, is she even gay? Was Shion crazy? What was she even doing-

"Ladies and gentlemen and everyone assembled! We are... THE TERRAFORMERS!" growled the vocalist. "And we are going to ROCK! YOUR! WORLD!"

That may have been the worst pun Shion had ever heard.

The music was great, though!

\---

"Thank you all for coming here! Good night everyone! Tip your wait staff!"

The lights came back up on the room as Judy and the rest of the band relaxed and the crowd applauded. It went great! Judy thought that the crowd seemed super into it, and the whole band nailed their parts. Plus Shion seemed happy from what glances Judy could steal, which she was pretty worried about. Shion didn't much seem the concert type, and Judy had worried a little bit about it. But, all's well that ends well. For now, it was time to disassemble the equipment and pack up and get ready to go.

Ned turned around to speak to the band. "Really good job everyone, great first performance. We're sure to get a good draw in for our next one. I've got a friend who's organizing a party next week, says he needs some music, you guys down for that?"

Rain nodded. "Sounds good to me, I'm always free."

Judy nodded as well. "Awesome, second gig right off the bat. We're making it happen, guys!"

Andy grunted.

"Cool! I'm gonna work out the ticket sales with the shop, you guys cool with finishing up packing?" But before anyone could even respond, Ned was off. Judy sighed. Oh well, he was probably going to mess things up anyways. He was never very good with-

"Hey, Judy!" Judy turned around. It was Shion! She hadn't even noticed Shion had gotten out of her seat. Dang, Shion was looking nice tonight, Judy thought. Cute jacket!

"Hey! Did you enjoy the show?"

"Um... yeah! It was really fun! I've never really been to a concert before, it always seemed like too much of a crowd, but... this was really nice!"

"I'm really happy! Glad you were able to make it and had a good time!"

"Um..." Shion started blushing nervously. "I... I was wondering if you... if you wanted to go on a date on Monday. I know you're busy tomorrow, but..." 

"Like, a date date?"

"... yes." Shion blushed even more.

Oh! Shion was gay! That's convenient, Judy thought.

"Absolutely! Do you have anywhere good in mind?"

Shion stared for a second. "Um, there's a really good sushi place just in town that I like. Does that sound good?"

"Absolutely! Here, let me give you my number."

Shion fumbled with her pockets for a second before pulling out her phone and typing in Judy's number. "So, uh, I'll call you on Monday and we can meet up and head out, then?"

"Sounds good! Can you give me your number too?"

"Oh, uh, yeah! Here you go."

Score, Judy thought to herself. Shion seemed pretty cute and fun and interesting! It should be a good date. Sushi was delicious, too. She hadn't gone on a date since her disaster of a relationship last year, so she was excited to go out with someone and have fun again.

"Awesome! Talk to you on Monday, then!" Judy gave Shion a big grin.

"Yeah! Talk to you then. Uh, see you! Congrats again on the concert!" Shion gave a little wave and scurried off.

Dang, she's adorably nerdy though, Judy thought.

\---

Shion, meanwhile, was flipping out. Oh my god oh my god oh my god I HAVE A DATE! And she's awesome! And rad! And gay! She opened up her phone and started texting Midori immediately.

\- i have a date!!!!!

\- grats! whn?

\- monday!!!! we're going for sushis!!!!

\- nice! congrats on doing that :)

\- i'm really happy!!! omg what do i do now tho i've never been on a date before

\- jst b natural, easy modo

\- easy for you to say

\- i mean its worked 4 u so far. also dn't cme back to room

\- why?

\- busy

\- oh. gimme heads up when you're free then

\- kk grats again :)

Shion sighed. Guess she was going to have to stay out a bit longer.

Jeez. A real date. She found it a little hard to believe she really had the courage to ask, after panicking so much about it, but... she did it! And it worked out! With a really awesome girl who can rock the world with her guitar! And who was apparently interested in her projects! 

Shion really hoped this would work out. She danced a little as she walked down the path to the library.


	3. Day of the Date

"Uggggggh." Judy flopped onto her bed in her dorm room, laptop bag plopped on the ground. Sweet, comfy bed... the bed didn't judge her for not properly analyzing Pachabel's Canon in D... the bed was a good, steadfast friend...

Claire, Judy's roommate, did not respond to her moaning.

"I said, uggggh," said Judy, turning to glare at Claire.

Claire was sitting on her own bed, headphones on, drawing something in her sketchbook, a reliable constant like always. 

"I'm fishing for sympathy here."

"I can hear you just fine, I'm just choosing not to respond. No fish in this sea," replied Claire, not even bothering to look up from her sketchbook. 

"What're you drawing today?"

"None of your business. Yet. I'll show you when it's done."

"Fine..." whined Judy, burying her face in her pillow.

"Why all the moping anyways? Don't you have a date in an hour? That always cheered you up last year."

"Yeah, I'm super excited, it's just... I dunno, I'm feeling all intimidated all of a sudden."

Claire suddenly stopped drawing, stared for a second, and closed her sketch book, turning to look at Judy for the first time so far. "Intimidated? You? Wait, what are you even intimidated of?"

Judy removed herself from her pillow, thinking before finally responding. "It's like... I just met her a few days ago, y'know, and I thought she was pretty cute so I gave her a ticket for the concert, but I wasn't, like, expecting anything to come of that, and then she's like... actually following up on it? I dunno, it sounds dumb but I'm worried I'm not gonna live up to the expectations she has of me. Am I even making sense?"

Claire sat pensively for a moment. "No. But I think I see what you're saying anyways. You're used to pursuing after women. Impressing them, making them want you, delivering your image, things like that. This is the first time you're really being pursued, isn't it?"

"... Yeah. I guess, yeah."

"She goes to Ford, right? So you're probably worried that she's looking for a smarter girl, especially after your disaster of a class earlier. Especially if you met her in the context of her tutoring you, too."

"... you could put that a bit nicer, but. Yeah." 

"But look at this way: she's already seen something in you. Just be yourself and let her judge whether she's right for being interested in you. Keep an eye on the first thing that's gotten skipped with things going topsy turvy: are YOU interested in HER."

"I mean, yeah! She seemed pretty cool when we were chatting, and she's really cute, and... she's into... uh."

"That's what this date is for. Have fun with her. Find out what she's into, what she's like. First dates mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, it's just an opportunity to see if a second date makes sense."

"... Thanks, Claire. That helped a lot. Where'd you get all that advice from?"

"I browse relationship forums to laugh at people who have no idea how to talk to other people. I pick up good advice while I'm there."

"You scare me sometimes."

"Good. Now leave me alone, I need to finish this drawing."

Judy popped up from her bed. Time to figure out what to wear for the date...

\---

"Hrm. I... don't actually know what I'm going wear to the date," Shion muttered, staring at her closet. A careful utterance after a solid ten minutes of staring at the closet.

"Don't you have that cute jacket and top? I remember you had those for presenting something last year." Midori was hanging off the top of her bed, perched above her desk bunk-style, reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with head and arms dangling in the air perilously.

"I wore those to the concert already, remember? I can't just wear them again. Right? Please say I can wear them again."

"Nope, sorry. Forgot you had already worn them. Right out if you want to impress her."

"Aw, come on. Societal expectations suck." Shion pouted.

"Don't you have any other good clothes?"

"Not that I look good in..."

"Aw, come on, I see a cute sweater right there. That blue one?"

"No, I don't look good in that, not compared to Judy! You should've seen her! She's so, like, fashionable and cool, she had this cool little choker thing she was wearing, her hair's all cool..."

Midori sighed. "You know this is just a first date, right? You don't have to synergize with her already. Just wear something you look cute in so she has something good to look at."

"That's a bit of a cynical way to look at it."

"Heh, you haven't even heard my cynical views about dating yet. Think about it though - what's the point of looking good? Feeling proud of yourself, showing off something you've invested in, and making other people happy by having something good to look at. So wear something that makes you happy about yourself and that she'll be thinking about ripping off you by the end of the night."

Shion blushed furiously. "I- w- b- let me try on the sweater and these pants and I'll be back!" she stuttered as she stomped into the bathroom to change.

Midori sighed, again. This was a common occurrence when Shion was being particularly silly. God, it really is easy to embarrass Shion, though. She hoped Shion wouldhaha be okay on the date. Back to reading...

A few minutes later, Shion stepped back out. "H-how do I look?" She was wearing the light blue sweater Midori had pointed out and a pair of skinny black jeans, along with her favorite jade pendant necklace as an accessory. 

Midori raised her head from her book to take a look. "Fantastic! She'll love it. Now go meet with her already."

"I-I have to text her first. Okay. Deep breath. I got this." Shion took out her phone and started typing a text to Judy.

\- hey! i'm all ready to head out. meet on stanford drive near the ford sign and we'll walk down?

Shion finally remembered to take that deep breath and pressed SEND. "Oh God, I sent it. It's on. The date's happening."

Midori grinned. "Hey, you got this. Smile, be yourself, nerd out a little about something, figure out what she's like and if you still like her, and it'll all turn out great."

"Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm going now before I chicken out. See you later tonight, Midori!"

"Have fun!" Midori shouted as Shion darted out the door. That girl. Sometimes you can't move her if you threatened her, sometimes a little prod and she becomes a nervous ball of unstoppable energy. Oh well. Least it was quiet now so Midori could finish her reading.

\---

Judy was finally coming up on Stanford Drive after a short walk that felt like ages. Maybe it was just the nervous energy from sitting around waiting for Shion to get in touch beforehand, but she was really excited for this date. As she was getting closer, she finally saw Shion, and could barely resist letting out a low whistle. She was wearing a super cute sweater and jeans that fit her amazingly and somehow looked even cuter - beautiful even! - in the broad daylight instead of the artificial lights of the lab or the poor lighting of the coffee house. Judy definitely couldn't resist shouting "Hey, good looking! Behind you!"

Shion was standing by the entrance sign to John Ford College and had been scanning around nervously, obviously looking for any sign of Judy. At hearing Judy shout, Shion jumped a little and spun around to her. "O-oh! Hey Judy!," already blushing.

She really is easy to embarrass, Judy thought. Better be easy teasing her. "You look great! That's a super cute sweater, where'd you get it?"

"I, uh, don't really remember, honestly. It was some shopping trip over the summer, my mom was all 'you need to dress better and impress people so you can get a girlfriend', I barely have any clue what I'm doing with fashion half the time. But- but you think it looks good?"

"Yeah! And it's working on the getting a girlfriend part," said Judy with a big grin. Shion blushed even more. Okay, so it was a little hard to resist teasing her.

"You look nice, too!" Shion finally managed to get out. 

"Aw, I barely tried compared to you, but thanks." Judy had in fact dressed casually, in a white T-shirt with red sleeves and a comfy pair of jeans, with her favorite choker and a small black bracelet to accessorize. Still, if Shion liked it-

"D-don't talk yourself down like that! You have a really cool aesthetic and you live it really well!" Shion had gotten determined all of a sudden! "I think that's really cool!" 

Judy couldn't help but grin a little. "Thanks, that's really good to hear. So, so we're not standing around complimenting each other all day, which way is it to the sushi?"

"It's right down this street, we can make it in like ten minutes by walking. So- uh- shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go!" 

\---

Shion was - panicking? Happy? Nervous? Excited? One of those. Maybe all of them. But things felt good! Being called good looking is good. Right? Did Judy mean it? Like, she had, to, right? And that getting a girlfriend joke - is that serious? Is Judy actually considering being, like, in a relationship? God, what was she do-

"So what were you up to this weekend? I mean, I know we were at the concert on Saturday, but what were you up to Sunday?"

Shion paused. Wait. Did Judy just ask her that, or- oh my god! Shion said that! Her mouth had mutinied! Treacherous swine!

"Oh, I was hanging out with some of my friends in improv! They do a practice performance type thing every week on Sunday in the afternoons, and I had gotten in the habit of hanging out with them last year. It's not, like, an urgent thing, but it's fun and a good way for me to get out of a mental rut from spending the whole day doing homework, you know?"

"Yeah, definitely. Sometimes if I'm not paying attention I can just burrow into a problem for hours on end if I'm only making slow progress, and if it gets bad it can get me to an ugly place fast." Her mouth had changed the control codes! Her heart was staging a full coup of the nervous system! Her only choice - surrender to the whims of fate!

"Yeah, that's never fun. So I like to go there, hang out, see some fresh faces, laugh a little, get to a good place and come back to my work with a fresh take. Even, like, writing songs or practicing guitar can get too stressful, even though I love doing it."

"Yeah, that's the same with me and my personal projects. It can be even worse when I'm playing a game and I dig too much into it."

"Oh, cool, you're a gamer? I'm kind of one - I play, like, League of Legends terribly, TF2, a few thigns like that?"

"Oh, cool! Yeah, I've tried those, but my wheelhouse is more JRPGS and strategy games - Final Fantasy and things like that?"

"Yeah, I tried Ten back in the day and that was interesting but, I never really got into it? Sorry, don't mean to insult your taste."

Shion giggled. "No, no, it's okay. I'm always amazed how popular they seem to be - it always feels like a niche taste when I'm playing them. But that's cool! I'm pretty bad at FPSes myself, but I can always give them another shot."

"Maybe we could play LoL sometime? Test out teamwork?"

"I don't want to test our relationship so soon! LoL ruins lives!"

Judy let out a snort. "It sure sounds like it from the chat I hear sometimes."

Nice! Shion had made her laugh! That's a point right there.

"So, what were you up to the other day, then?," Judy followed up. Uhoh. Don't mention it don't mention it don't mention it-

"I spent most of the morning at church and then just spent the rest of the day playing games and doing homework, nothing too interesting." AGH! She said it! Maybe Judy wouldn't ask-

"Oh, you go to church?" THE TORPEDOS HAVE HIT!

"Yeah, the local UU church. Is- is that okay?" 

Shion knew her anxiety would seem weird to - well, anyone. But... back in high school, the one girl who helped her discover her sexuality and was the only opportunity Shion had for anything resembling a relationship kind of... flipped out when Shion told her about being religious and refused to listen to anything Shion said. Even though the church was a big part of her life, and UU never taught anything negative about homosexuality whatsoever, Shion still felt embarrassed about it, for it ruining what felt like her big chance. And if it ruined things again...

"I mean, why wouldn't it be okay? I'm not religious, is that okay? You're not going to try to convert me, or anything?"

Shion let out a breath she had been holding for years and never realized it and - laughed. "No, of course not! No, it's absolutely fine."

Judy made an exaggerated 'phew' noise. "What's UU anyways? Never heard of it."

"Unitarian Universalists. It's an offshoot of Christianity, but - even more inclusive than that. We believe that there's one God who expresses himself in many ways, to many people, to express his love for, well, everyone. And that everyone is saved through Him."

"That sounds neat! Better than most of my experiences with church."

"Yeah, my time with the church means a lot to me. I've been going to one UU church or another since I've been really young, and it's been the majority of my socialization for the longest time."

"That's cool you have something spiritual like that you're invested in. It sounds like it's made you a really caring person." Judy smiled at Shion.

God! This date was already going amazing!


	4. The Date

Shion and Judy entered the restaurant, King of Tokyo Sushi, to the sound of a jingling bell on the door. One of the wait staff turned to see them and exclaimed "Irasshaimase! Welcome! Table for two?"

"Yes, please! Could we have one of the booths?" replied Shion. It wasn't important, but she felt like it'd be a bit more personal in a booth, less feeling all out in the open. Plus the booths were comfier anyways. The waiter nodded and took them over to one of the empty booths. Thankfully, the place wasn't too busy. Shion had forgotten to make reservations or anything, but the place was never particularly full when she came last year when her parents visited. The waiter dropped them off with a pair of menus.

"So, what can I get you two for drinks?"

"Could I have a Sprite?" asked Judy.

"Just water for me, thanks." added Shion.

"Sounds good. I'll be back for your order in a bit." The waiter walked off.

Okay, thought Shion. Time for more smalltalk. You got this! "So, uh, random question, but do you drink? Like, alcohol, that is."

"At parties and stuff, yeah, I'll have a few beers. I'm just not a fan of most of the heavier stuff, though. Doesn't sit in my stomach very well. You?"

"I'm not even twenty-one yet, so I haven't even tried much yet. Not that I'm, like, stuck up about it, but I haven't found anything that even smelled that good yet."

"Haha, it's okay. I'm not twenty-one yet and it hasn't stopped me."

"But you go to like, parties and stuff, so you've got it around, right? Not me, nosiree."

"So you don't go to big parties that much?" Judy has a mischievous grin on her face, but Shion couldn't figure out why.

"No, not really. I tried once last year and it was a total mistake, I was freaking out the whole time."

"So you coming to the concert was your first big social thing in a while then, wasn't it?"

"... Yeah, it was," Shion admitted. "And I had a really good time. Your music was super cool to listen to, and the place was cool, and everyone was pretty chill the whole time. I actually had a lot of fun."

Judy broke out into a huge grin. "That's fantastic! I was worried when I invited you, honestly. I kinda just gave you the ticket because you looked cute and you helped me out so much. It wasn't until later that I never asked if you wanted to come."

Shion blushed a bit, helplessly. "... you really thought I was cute? I mean, uh-"

"Totally! Didn't realize you were gay at the time, or I would've been hitting on you more."

"... Thanks. That really feels good to hear." Shion managed to smile a cute little smile. "Oh, we should probably figure out what to order."

"Oh, crap! Nearly forgot." Judy popped open her menu to quickly browse through it, and Shion opened her own. Gosh! Judy was so... direct! It was a bit much for Shion at some points, but it felt good to be... wanted? Liked? ... Respected? Though, something else was bugging her... she didn't know Judy was gay, when she asked her out. What was she thinking? Knowing Shion, if she had thought about that before she would've just panicked and never done anything, just always watch from a distance. Something about Judy just made her... impulsive, somehow. Decisive? Take action-y? It was a good feeling, though! Things were working out! 

Oh, yeah, ordering. "I'm thinking of getting some nigiri, the tuna and the salmon here are great. How about you, Judy?"

"Aw, I'm a fake sushi fan. I was just going to get a shrimp tempura roll."

"That's a perfectly fine thing to get! I love shrimp tempura rolls."

Judy giggled. "Thanks for the signoff. You seem like more of a sushi expert than me, I've never ordered nigiri."

"Oh, I've just been to sushi enough times to know what's going on." 

"Maybe we can come here again and you can teach me some things, then."

Shion smiled. "Yeah, that'd be fun." To say the least!

The waiter came by to take their orders and drop off their drinks. Afterwards, as Judy sipped at her soda, Shion asked, "So, what do you do in your free time? I know you mentioned you game a little, but I was curious what else you do. I imagine you, practice a lot?"

"Yeah, I love playing the guitar, even when it's just goofing around and not practicing. I try to do an hour of solid, directed practice a day, but I'll goof around just mindlessly playing songs too if I have nothing else going on. Aside from that, just a bit of gaming, a bit of hanging out, the occasional party."

"What's your practice like? Just playing a song over and over, or?"

"Nah, it's like... when you're trying to get better at programming, do you write a bunch of simple programs over and over, or do you try to learn a specific new thing?"

"Well, a specific new thing, of course. Not much point in making a dozen of the same thing aside from getting faster at it."

"That's it, exactly. Well, not quite exactly, but it's like I'm going to focus on getting a specific finger movement down, or play a note specifically correctly, and focus on the specific mechanics of each little bit. Then I'll assemble it all together when I play a new song, and it becomes an issue of just doing it all in order instead of just vaguely trying to 'get better'. ... Sorry, am I boring you?"

"No! That's super interesting, I've never thought about the process that must go into practicing effectively. Honestly I've never really thought about it that much, even though I listen to a ton of music."

"I'm glad you thought it was interesting. I think that's the main thing I'm learning, on a practical level - how to practice effectively and how to learn."

"It's the same thing in engineering, honestly - less about the specific and more about how to solve a problem when you don't know the principles at play. Just build up from basics and form a complete solution from there."

"Guess there's something to this college thing, then," Judy said with a laugh. "What kind of music do you listen to?" 

"Uh... some techno, some dubstep, some hiphop, some rock, some j-pop, some k-pop, some classical... a lot of video game soundtracks, too."

"Guess I could've guessed that last one, but that's a nice little spread of diversity."

"Yeah, I follow... a lot of mashup artists, I'll admit it. So I've been introduced to a lot of little things here and there, and sort of assembling my music collection haphazardly from there."

"Hey, that's a perfectly fine thing. If you're having fun listening to it, it's good music. Sometimes I feel like a lot of snobs I have class with forget that."

Shion giggled. "Thanks for the support." The waiter came by, dropped off their plates and a refill for Judy's soda and scurried off again.

"Damn, this looks good," said Judy, staring at her roll and promptly popping one of the pieces in her mouth. "An i' even 'as'es 'oo'."

"Hehe, I'm glad you like it, but don't talk with your mouth full!"

"Fine, Moooom." Judy gave Shion a grin and started digging into her food. 

Shion was relieved - she knew Judy said yes to sushi in the first place, but every little thing going right made her happier. And Judy being happy made Shion... really surprisingly happy, gosh. She hadn't felt like this in a long time- at least, not in a way she could act on. Judy seemed cool, and definitely hot, and it seemed like they had some shared interests too! Maybe - maybe this would work out?

"So, what do you do in your spare time?," Judy asked between pieces.

"The majority of it is videogame, not going to lie. Either that or reading about videogames, I love the planning and theorizing part that goes into games. Figuring things out, breaking things down, things like that."

"That's pretty cool! I know I read those LoL guides and I can't imagine the kind of thought that goes into those. So you try to math out things like that?"

"Yeah! Or read other people's works and think about those. That's always pretty fun, and I like to contribute back to the gaming communities for the games I play. Makes it feel like I'm making a postive difference. Aside from that, I've got my personal projects I'm working on, like the navigating Roomba I was telling you about." 

"That sounds super cool, by the way! You have to show me at some point, I'm dying to see it."

"Sure! Once it's working a bit more. Right now all it does is ram into anything that's painted blue."

Judy cracked up at this. "Oh my god, just leave that in and say that's what it's supposed to do. The mirror-universe bull!"

"Hehe, yeah, that's an idea. Maybe I'll keep it around as a mode I can toggle. The Blue Hunter!"

"Jeez, that sounds super rad though. How do you, like, figure it all out? Like, moving the robot, taking the camera image and, like, teaching the robot what's a wall and what isn't?"

"It's... kind of like that music practice thing you were talking about. Every bit of code I work with is just complex building blocks made of smaller blocks. I just figure out how to use each of those blocks on their own, and then I can stack them together to do cool things."

"You say that, but I doubt I could figure it out."

"Honestly, if you make it through CS 0, I think you could. It's just the same thing writ large, really."

"We'll have to see about that. But that sounds pretty cool."

"Thanks! It means a lot to hear that, honestly. Most non-engineers I talk to about my hobbies just call it nerdy. But even if it's trodding ground other people have done, it's something I'm proud of. It's something uniquely me, because I made it, and it's... my way of expressing myself, I guess."

Judy paused for a second. "I mean, it is nerdy, but it's also... really cool. That you're so passionate about these things that make you happy. That you develop your own projects related to them. I think that's something to be proud of. And there's never anything wrong with expressing yourself. I believe that more than anything."

Shion smiled. "Thanks. I don't get a lot of support from other people sometimes, so that does mean a lot."

Judy grinned that mischievous grin Shion recognized as her trademark at this point. "No problem. You're awfully cute when you're happy, you know."

"You're not going to get me to blush again! I know what you're trying to do!" countered Shion, blushing regardless. They both laughed as the waiter came up.

"Are you ladies both done? Shall I bring the check?"

"Oh, yeah, I think we are. Shion?"

"Yeah, I'm good." The waiter cleared out the plates.

Judy reached for her wallet. "I'll cover the check, okay? I just got payday for the concert and all."

"Oh, you don't have to, I'm the one who suggested we come here, I can-"

"Don't worry about it, really. I'm having a really good time, and I'd like to."

"... Okay. Thank you."

"No problem."

The waiter came back with the check, took Judy's credit card, and returned with the final receipt. Judy signed it and asked, "Well, my lady, shall we be off?" with an affected air as she rose from her seat.

"Why yes, we shall," replied Shion. 

\---

The two walked towards Judy's dorm, the closer of the two. Shion dearly wanted an excuse to spend more time with Judy, but... she had homework to do, and didn't want to impose on Judy. Plus, it was starting to get late, and the sun was starting to set. Didn't want to stay out too late, after all. Shion remembered Midori warning her to stay safe when she was out on her own. So - just walk back to Judy's dorm, say goodbye, and then - then what? Hrm. The date seemed to be going well... maybe another date? Maybe more hanging out? Maybe - something? How do relationships work? Is this one? Is this - no. Now was not the time for questions. Now was the time for bold action! It had worked so far!

The two had been walking in silence when Shion took a deep breath and reached out to hold Judy's hand. Judy took a second to notice and \- smiled and took Shion's hand in her own.

Hand in hand, they continued as thus until they finally reached Judy's dorm hall. "I guess... this is where we say goodbye," said Shion a little mournfully.

"Yeah... thanks, Shion. I had a really good time chatting with you, and sushi was delicious. Let's definitely do something again."

"Yeah, definitely! You've... got my number, right. Let's chat and set something else up sometime."

"Yeah..." said Judy, a weird tone in her voice.

Well. No time to question it. 

Shion leaned in to Judy to kiss her.

And Judy kissed back.

"Once you get back to your dorm, text me, okay Shion? Want to make sure you get back safe."

"... T-thanks. Yeah, I definitely will. Have a good night, Judy."

"Already have," said Judy as she opened the door to her hall and went inside.

That was their - and Shion's - first kiss.


	5. In The Rain

Shion stepped out from the lecture hall to find it pouring rain outside. It was September! How could it be raining already? Did the weather forecast see this coming? Maybe she should be paying more attention to that... anyways, Shion was out of her last class for the day, a Linguistics course at Corvin to fill out her humanities requirements. The problem was that Corvin was the farthest from Ford she could get, and she hadn't brought an umbrella or jacket because, well, September. Plus she had walked there (get some exercise, they said. Good for you, they said. See if she ever walks anywhere again). Her hair would be fine in the rain (quite the blessing that), but she'd still end up soaked by the time she got back. Scuttling back inside, she considered her options. ... She didn't have any. Crud.

Oh! Maybe she could ask someone to bring her an umbrella. Um... who'd be nearby? Midori was back at Ford, Maya was in class, Mark and Nikki didn't live anywhere nearby... 

Well. Maybe she could ask Judy? Was that too presumptuous? She didn't really know Judy's schedule that well, and the whole relationship thing was... it was good, she thought, but she didn't quite know what she could and couldn't assume yet. Still... Shion pulled out her phone and started messaging Judy.

mechenjin: hey! you there? i goofed

...

judyh36: hey! wazzup  
mechenjin: it's pouring rain and i don't have a jacket or umbrella  
judyh36: shit!  
mechenjin: don't wanna be a bother but if you're free, could you come down here with a spare umbrella so i can make it back?  
judyh36: sure! do you have anything you need to do today?  
mechenjin: no, no rush  
judyh36: wanna come hang out in my room for a bit then?

Oh. Uh. Was that... was that an option?

mechenjin: yeah! is that okay?  
judyh36: absolutely! you can hang out and chill long as you like  
mechenjin: cool! see you when you get here  
judyh36: be there in a few

Well. That went well! Shion and Judy had been messaging each other regularly since their first date a few days ago (and their first kiss, Shion thought with a blush), but this'd be their first chance to hang out since then. Judy had been busy with homework she had put off over the weekend, and Shion had her first chunk of grading work to take care of with the first batch of assignments in. So, they chatted online when they could, but... having the chance to see Judy again filled Shion with the nervous excitement she kept feeling when it came to thinking about Judy.

What should she even call it, anyways? A crush seemed inaccurate when they'd already gone on a date and kissed, but was it too soon to call it love? Though, really, hormonally, love was probably all you could call it. Finding someone so pretty and kind and fun and... and all that had bowled Shion right over. 

... Well, all to do right now was wait for Judy to show up. Shion leaned up against the wall, pulled out her phone and opened her browser, planning to just goof around. Though, actually, she could show Judy the new setup she had for her Roomba once they were hanging out. Maybe she should test that first. Shion flicked open a bookmark, typed in her credentials, and started poking.

Before long, the door opened, and Judy, wearing a light black rain coat and carrying a red-and-white umbrella, stepped inside. "Hey! Did I keep you waiting long?"

"No, not at all!" replied Shion as she put away her phone. "Thanks for coming out, I didn't want to get my clothes all soaked on the walk back."

"It's no problem at all! Just glad I was able to help you out of a sticky spot."

"Aw, thanks, you really didn't have to."

"I insist. I only have the one umbrella, you okay sharing it?"

"Y-yeah, that should be fine."

"Then, let's go!"

The two walked out into the rain side by side and, once Shion worked up the confidence, hand in hand underneath Judy's umbrella. Once the pressing issue of getting soaked by the rain was out of the way, Shion felt much more content. She had always loved the sound of the rain, the splashing of puddles, the cool feeling of the water... it was pleasant. Relaxing. If Shion could ever to be said to be 'in her element' away from a computer, this would be it. And walking with Judy, who was rocking out to some unheard music on her headphones, was really nice.

As they walked, though, something nagged Shion. Were they girlfriends? Was Judy still mentally in a trial period about this, or was she feeling steady about it as well? ... As much as Shion thought, there wasn't really any way to know unless she asked. So...

"Hey, Judy," Shion finally managed to get out.

"Mm? What's up?" said Judy, taking off her headphones. 

"Are we... a couple? Like, are we girlfriends?"

Judy paused for a moment. "I mean, yeah. I'd say we are. Yeah, we've only been on the one date, but I've been having a lot of fun chatting with you online, and this is like, basically a date, right? And I'm not planning to look for anyone else to date at the moment. So yeah, I'd say we're a couple. Why do you ask?"

"... I dunno. I just worry about dumb things, sometimes." 

"Did you have a relationship go sour when that wasn't clear before, or something?"

"No... this is my first one, honestly. There was one girl I had a crush on in high school, but that went terribly..."

"Hey, you're here now, so it's okay. Guess that makes me the experienced one in the relationship, then," Judy said with a giggle.

"... Thanks, though. It is pretty comforting to hear that from you."

"You're cool with it, too? Us being a couple?"

"I mean, I don't want to sound desperate, but you're the first girl I've met that I liked and liked me back. I'm not exactly going to go  
fishing for another right now. Besides, I... really like you." 

"Nah, I totally get that. And I like you too, Shion," said Judy with a big grin. Shion smiled, and moved closer to Judy to hug her arm  
as they continued walking.

"... can I kiss you again?" Shion whispered.

Judy whispered back, "Absolutely." And they stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, in their own little world under the umbrella and the rain, and they kissed. And Shion felt... safe. Safe and happy. 

\---

"Well, here's my room," said Judy with a flourish. They had finally made it to her dorm hall after a bit more walking - well, leisurely strolling through the rain, if Shion was being honest - and had finally reached Judy's room. The first thing Shion noticed was that there were definitely two styles to the room: one side with band posters (including a THE TERRAFORMERS poster) and a guitar leaning against the wall, the other with art nouveau posters and prints on the walls complimenting the floral bedsheets. "That's my roommate Claire's side of the room, if you couldn't tell. She's out right now, should be back some time after dinner."

"These posters are lovely! What does she study, art?"

Judy nodded as she hung her jacket up in the small side closet and put down the umbrella. "Try not to touch anything, she's pretty territorial. If you're still around when she shows up later, you might be able to persuade her to show you some of her sketches."

"I'll keep that in mind. This is your guitar over here, right? That looks like the one you had at the concert."

"Yep, that's ol' Bessie. An Epiphone Les Paul I picked up back in high school with my money from summer jobs. Heart and soul right there. Wanna hear me play it?"

"Sure, but - how does it, uh, make noise? Doesn't it have to be plugged in to something?"

Judy laughed. "Yeah, let me plug it in to my laptop. I use that as my amp when I'm playing on my own. You can get comfy up on my bed, there's not really anywhere else to sit."

Shion hopped up on Judy's bed and pulled out her phone. It was almost reflex for her - the phone was her connection to the internet, her home base. She had her games on her phone, her browser, her remote Roomba controller (had to show Judy that), it's where she spent all her time. But... she put it down, to watch Judy set up the guitar. 

Judy hopped up on the bed, Bessie in hand and connected to the laptop. "Anything you want to hear? Please don't say Wonderwall."

"Hmm... how about something soft. To match the sound of the rain outside."

Judy paused in thought. "... I think I have just the thing. It's a love song I picked up from an old video game. It's meant for acoustic guitar, but... what the hell."

As Judy played, Shion leaned up against her back, to avoid blocking her arms as she played. And she closed her eyes, and she relaxed. And she felt loved.

\---

Shion's eyes opened. "... Wait, that's... the Legendary Theme?! From Gitaroo Man?!"

Judy stopped playing for a second and gaped. "Holy crap, you played that too?! I thought I was the only one!"

"'This is that sound! That glorious sound! We've forgotten it for so long...'"

"I seriously can't believe it. Small world, huh?"

"Sorry I can't pick up the dueling guitar part for you, U2."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the guitar in this relationship."


	6. Mechenjin

Saturday morning and Judy had nothing to do. THE TERRAFORMERS had band practice later that day, she was going to meet Shion for lunch in a few hours, she finished her CS homework for the week (with Shion's personal help) and didn't feel like starting anything else yet. Waking up to homework is uggggggh. And she'd practice on guitar, but even the string plucking was too loud for Claire, who was still asleep and wouldn't be up for an hour yet. Claire always managed to somehow stay up longer than Judy did; even coming back from long parties in the wee hours of the morning, Judy'd find Claire sketching away. So, that left Judy to mess around online. She reached from her bed to pull out her laptop from her bag, sat up against the wall, and booted up.

Reddit - nothing new worth checking out. She mostly stuck to the more informative subreddits, which didn't get quite so many posts as the rest of Reddit. Also THE TERRAFORMERS subreddit, which got... no posts whatseover. Someday maybe!

Twitter - THE TERRAFORMERS official account tweeted two hours ago: "Hey everyone! Video of our LIVE performance at the Hothouse Coffee Shop HERE: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fU4cl1kngT4s"

Ned's personal account tweeted just over two hours ago: "WHY AM I STILL AWAKE". So... not gonna get in touch with him before practice.

At 3 AM, Claire tweeted "this is garbage, don't like it" and a lovingly detailed art-nouveau style sketch of a girl with long flowing pink hair in front of a spring landscape. Judy sighed. Claire should really have more confidence in herself.

At 1 AM, Shion tweeted "omg!!! the stellaris preview looks INSANEly cool. space vic 3 plz". ... That meant something, right? "maybe with the ethics assignment and the species diversity they can finally get governments right" "space communism only communism" "OMG WHAT IF I JUST MADE THE BORG" "what if i just literally make the principality of zeon" "does zeon count as space germany, i need to keep up my combo" "WHAT IF SPACE HRE". ... Well, whatever she was talking about, Judy could just ask her about during lunch. She seemed excited about it, and as Judy had been learning, Shion really opened up whenever she was talking about something she was enthusiastic about. It was cute seeing her so pumped up, too.

At midnight, Judy tweeted "gonna hit the hay, i'm bushed". Oh, wait, that was her own tweet. Guess she was caught up. Most of her friends used Twitter only occasionally, so it wasn't super shocking, but she was hoping there'd be a bit more to read. Maybe Shion messaged her again since they were last chatting? ... Nope. Just the old log:

mechenjin: you probably need to go to sleep soon, huh  
judyh36: yeah :( had to get up early this morning, and want to make sure i don't get wiped  
mechenjin: we're meeting up at the ford dining hall for lunch tomorrow, right?  
judyh36: yep! i'll message you when i'm gonna head out  
mechenjin: awesome! can't wait to see you again :)  
judyh36: you too :)

... It was dumb, but... at the time, Judy really wanted to sign off with "love you <3". She definitely loved Shion, she was sure about that. Yeah, they had only been going out for two weeks, sure, but... it's not like Judy meant "MARRY ME" or anything. Just that... Judy really enjoyed seeing her. Talking with her. Smooching her (that was a big plus). And that she was really enjoying the relationship, and was looking forward to where it went. But in high school, she had a relationship short circuit when she said she loved her before the other girl felt comfortable with it. Way before. Waaaaaaaay before. And that's when she started to realize that what she meant by "I love you" was different than what other people meant by "I love you." So, she tried to respect that. But it sure was hard to restrain herself, sometimes. When Shion was resting on Judy's shoulder, hair lightly falling across her face, smiling like she had no care in the world... it was a wonderful feeling Judy could only describe as love. But, well...

Judy shook her head. Not really much she could figure out just sitting here on her own. Whatever she said, she knew her feelings and would just demonstrate them to Shion in other ways. Words are just words, in the end. Back to the internet. She hadn't checked Tumblr yet, so that seemed like a good next step. Judy wondered if Shion had a Tumblr blog. She seemed like she would. Maybe... her screenname on Twitter was mechenjin, so... she typed in mechenjin.tumblr.com. 

Bingo! "mechenjin's blog". Now, was it Shion? "About: hi! i'm mechenjin. 20,she/her,USA. i post dumb things". Well, that's a promising start. The icon was a... robot? Something like that. Did she have a selfie tag? Judy popped open her tags list...

"cool tech stuff" - Sounds like Shion.  
"xeno's grand strategy games" - ... What?  
"cute girls don't look at me" - Aww.  
"aesthetic" - Aesthetic? What would Shion consider aesthetic? Judy clicked. 

... A lot of giant robots, apparently. Judy watched Gundam SEED when it was on Cartoon Network when she was a kid, but that was about all she knew about them. They had been chatting about their favorite shows a few days back, and Shion was gushing about her love for mecha shows. Said she had first wanted to get into engineering as a kid so she could make a giant robot of her own, one day... that was cute, to be sure. But yeah, this was definitely Shion's aesthetic, at least. These looked pretty cool, actually. Judy made a note to ask Shion about them some more during lunch.

"nsfw ////" - Judy was going to be nice to poor Shion and not look at those quite yet, although she was curious to be sure. ... Well, if they're going out... and she was posting those on her public blog...

... It was just anime girls kissing each other. Really cute, to be sure, and Judy couldn't help but find Shion being so shy about it cute, but...

"me" - There we go! Let's take a look to see if this was actually her... 

First post in the tag, 9 hours ago, was a picture of Shion and Judy outside the theater the other day. They went out to see the latest Star Wars movie, which was a fantastic time - and a good movie, too. Shion said she had wanted to take a picture of the two of them... guess this is what it was for. God, but did Shion look cute though! Judy had never been very photogenic, for some reason, but Shion's beauty seemed to come through perfectly. Lucky! She checked the photo's tags:

"#me #and my gf!!! #i have a gf guys!!!! #aaaaaa #so much fun being with her". Judy grinned.

\---

Shion was standing around in front of Ford's dining hall, waiting for Judy to show up. Should be any minute now, but... Shion was just feeling a little impatient, for some reason. Oh well. Might as well just check her phone while she waits... ooo! Tumblr notification she missed! "judyh36 liked your post". ...

Oh no! That was Judy! Judy found her blog! Oh no! Aaaaaaa-

"Hey! Sorry I'm late, Shion!" No no no, Judy was coming up now. God, did Judy see anything embarrassing? Did she reblog anything lewd and forget about it? Was Judy going to think she's pathetic? 

"H-hey Judy! Just saw you found my blog..." said Shion, trailing off as she turned to face Judy.

"Yeah! Sorry, I just noticed you used the same name on Twitter and Tumblr. Was that okay?" Judy gave Shion a hug once she got close enough. Judy was very touchy when they were hanging out... Shion really liked that, if she was being honest. It felt nice and comforting. 

"... Yeah, it was. Sorry, I'm just... kinda shy, honestly. It's hard to admit I like things, or have romantic attraction to things, you know? And I reblog a lot of... well, anime girl stuff, and I was worried you'd judge me." 

"I'd never judge you for being interested in things. Hell, I'm interested in cute girls too, if you haven't noticed."

Shion giggled. "Yeah, I guess I'm thankful for that."

"Besides, it's a perfectly fine thing to have imagination. And I like knowing more about what you like. I want to get to know more about you, y'know?"

"... Yeah. Thanks. I really want to get to know more about you, too."

Judy grinned. "How about this - I'll answer any questions you want me to during lunch, since I found your blog. Deal?"

"Deal. ... so, who was your first crush?"

Judy paused in thought. "Uh... oh, yeah! Azula from Avatar."

"No way!"

"Seriously! She was rad as hell. Wanted to rule the Fire Nation with her." Shion giggled, and Judy gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "Next question?" Judy asked as they entered the dining hall.

"Hmm... well..."


	7. Judge Judy

"Hey, who touched my drums?!" shouted Rain. Oh no, thought Judy. 

"Oh, that was me. Had to move it to make room for some of the cables," replied Ned. THE TERRAFORMERS had reserved a music practice room in the Levins music department for the afternoon for their weekly band practice. Normally they were fairly spacious, but unfortunately Rain had set up her drums in an awkward location relative to the outlets, and...

"You can't just touch my drums! You're going to break them!"

"Hey, I didn't break nothing! And you had them in the way!"

Rain turned from checking her drums to yell at Ned directly. "I set them up right where you told me to! Don't pretend like that's something you didn't do!" 

"I did no such thing, and stop with the goddamn rhyming!" shouted Ned back, getting closer to Rain in the process. Judy realized she had to intervene before this escalated further. She quickly put her guitar down, stepped between them, and pushed them apart.

"Hey, guys, deep breaths, no need to shout. We're a team here, right? First off - Ned, doesn't matter whether or not the drums are in the way, ask before you move equipment from now on. Okay?"

Ned stared for a second, then backed away. "Yeah, okay, sorry."

"Rain, are your drums okay?"

Rain scowled, but relented. "Yeah, they're alright. He didn't hurt them, although he... easily could have," she ended with obvious restraint in her voice. 

Ned waved it off. "No, I'm sorry, there was no reason for me to get personal like that. It's just what you do, and I can't ask you to change that."

Phew, thought Judy, that was going to be hard to deal with otherwise. "Rain, are you okay forgiving him for this time if he agrees to ask your permission to move your equipment in the future?"

"... If he has to, it's fine, but I'd rather he asked me. If I can't, then he can, if he can't leave it be."

"Ned, does that sound fine?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'm sorry, Rain."

"It's okay, just a shitty morning today. Let's move past this and get on and play?"

"Yeah, let's do this. Judy, Andy, ready?"

Andy grunted.

Judy nodded. "Let's go. We're doing Even Rats today, right?"

\---

"Jeez, do many arguments happen like that when you're practicing?" asked Shion. The two of them were relaxing in Shion's room: Shion sitting at her desk, and Judy lying down on her bed over the desk. Judy had found Shion's 3DS and was currently playing Ocarina of Time on Shion's recommendation. Shion was shocked when Judy had mentioned never playing it, and offered to lend Judy anything she wanted to play from Shion's collection. Currently she was in the middle of the Deku Tree and chatting with Shion as she played.

"Nah, normally Rain's the really level headed one, honestly. Ned and I have gotten into the odd shouting match now and then just due to some creative differences, but I've been learning to trust his creative direction a bit more recently."

"Then what even happened?"

"Someone broke into Rain's room and took some of her books that morning, so she was feeling super protective and anxious already. And Ned doesn't ever know when to step down, honestly. Thankfully I got them to settle down and reach an agreement. And campus security found the guy who took Rain's books, so that's taken care of now."

"That's good to hear..." said Shion, trailing off then breaking into a giggle. "Hehehe, guess that makes you a real Judge Judy then."

Judy didn't respond. Shion was about to ask if she was okay before she shouted "OH MY GOD. Oh my god how has NO ONE MADE THAT JOKE BEFORE."

"Are you okay? Are you being sarcastic, or-" but Shion was cut off by Judy's peals of laughter.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm calming down now. I just... how has no one made that joke? I swear I've never made the connection before!"

"She has literally the same name as you! How has that never happened?!"

"I don't know! It hasn't come up! I'm not normally the decider or the conflict resolver, so... god, I would be the worst judge!"

Shion couldn't help but join Judy's laughter at this point. "It's a good thing you aren't Judge Judy, or will ever be a judge, or in fact have any relation to the Judge Judy show whatsoever."

"I know, right?! How could anyone possibly think of me as Judge Judy? That would be so silly!"

They both laughed, and Shion smiled when the mood finally passed. Judy was a lot more expressive than Shion ever was - she spoke up when she was upset, she laughed when she was entertained, she grinned widely when she was happy... it made things very lively around her. And even though, in the past, lively was the last thing Shion wanted, around Judy it felt right. Fun instead of scary. 

... Hmm. You know, Judy always said she wanted to know more about Shion, and share everything she could. And she was a lot more expressive than Shion ever was. Maybe she could help Shion think through something. "... Hey, Judy," she managed to get out. "I've got a personal question to ask."

"Hmm? What's up?", replied Judy as she closed the 3DS.

"Just hypothetically, I'm not trying to imply anything, but... when do you think it's appropriate to say you... love someone?"

"Oooh, heavy question. Luckily for you it's something I've thought about a lot. My standards for saying I love someone... it's different than a lot of other people's, I think. For me, it's like... if I'm eating a bowl of nice ice cream, I'm going to say I loved that ice cream, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"And it's like, I've only had that ice cream once, and it might not be my favorite thing of ice cream for all time, and I might love a different type of ice cream once I try it, but that's not going to change my love of the first ice cream unless I change, right? So... when I'm with someone, and I'm enjoying being with them, and I'm romantically involved with them, and I want to spend more time with them, learn more about them... I'd say I loved them."

"Hmm... that's interesting."

"What's up?" replied Judy, poking her head over the side to look at Shion directly.

"I mean, you enjoy being with me, you're romantically involved with me, and you want to spend more time with me, right? So, is one of those premises false, or is there something else you're leaving out?"

Judy... paused. A solemn look that Shion didn't recognize passed over Judy's face. "Yeah... there was one relationship I had. My first, actually. I used that standard and it backfired. Hard. So... now I try not to say it until the other person says it."

"When was the last time you said it, then?" Shion couldn't help herself at this point - even if she was shy, she was always far more curious.

"My second relationship in high school. It ended because she moved away to New York, and we agreed that it was best for us to move on. She has a new boyfriend now, so she's happy. Not gonna steal me away, if you're worried about that."

Shion had two last questions to ask. God, but this was going to be hard. "So... if I said it... you'd say it back?"

"... Yeah. I would."

"... Is it okay if I don't?"

"One hundred percent. Words are just words. Your actions speak far louder than that."

"... Thank you. I don't think I'm quite prepared to, yet."

"Turnabout's fair play, then. Why aren't you ready to say it?"

It was Shion's turn to pause and think. "For you, it's when you want to spend more time, and learn more about someone, right?"

"Yep."

"For me, it's the opposite. It's when I know enough about someone that I'm confident that learning more won't change things. Like, when I finish eating that bowl of ice cream, and I've digested it and it doesn't cause food poisoning or it turns out I'm suddenly lactose intolerant, then I'll say I love that ice cream. As I'm eating it, I don't know everything yet. So, that's why I can't say it yet."

Judy... grinned? "That's really cool! That's the best description of that I've ever heard."

"R-really? I always thought I was pretty bad at exploring emotions and stuff."

"Nah, that was really good. Thanks for asking me, that was really informative. Learning more about each other every day."

It was Shion's turn to smile. "Yeah... we really are. And I'm still liking everything I'm learning, so don't worry about that."

"Glad to hear it. Come up here and kiss me."

"Fiiiiine," said Shion with mock indignation, and stood up from her chair to kiss Judy's waiting lips.


	8. Spend The Night

Shion's phone rang. "Oh, who is it?" asked Judy, sitting next to her. The two of them were relaxing in Shion's room, playing videogames and chatting and kissing, the same routine they found themselves in so often. Midori was out doing something and probably not getting back until late, so they had the room to themselves (and Judy had Midori's chair to herself - none of the Ford dorm rooms had enough chairs!). Judy was playing Majora's Mask, continuing Shion's Legend of Zelda lecture course, while Shion was playing Crusader Kings 2, or "Spreadsheet Simulator 1066" as she liked to call it. (Even if Judy hadn't laughed at it yet, she would eventually. Right?)

It was funny to Shion how often she and Judy ended up together, nowadays. They always ended up finding ways to spend time hanging out in one or the other's rooms if they weren't eating together, working together in a library or at a cafe, or even going for walks and destressing together. For Shion, it was - weird, but in a good way. Her routine hadn't really changed, it was just... she did homework, with Judy. She browsed the web, with Judy. She ate meals, with Judy. She watched anime, with Judy (that took quite a bit of courage). She looked at cute girls, i.e. Judy. She chatted with her online friends, sitting next to Judy. She held hands with Judy, hugged Judy, kissed Judy, and... her world just featured a lot of Judy where there previously wasn't. It was weird, interacting so much with someone else, but it was... wonderful, really. 

Shion pulled out her phone to take a look. "It's my mom! I haven't gotten the chance to talk her for a month now. Mind if I take the call?"

"Yeah, go for it! Should I go outside?"

Shion shook her head. "No, it should be fine. Just keep the volume down, if that's okay?" Judy nodded and turned her volume down as Shion answered the phone. "Hey mom!"

"Honey! It's been too long, how are you doing?"

"I'm great, mom. I'm sorry I haven't been calling more."

"Oh, don't worry about it, my baby girl. Are you okay? Are you still eating? Have you left your room at all this year?"

"I'm absolutely okay mom. I'm eating well, I've been leaving my room. Classes are going great, too."

"Oh, that's so wonderful to hear, Shion. Your father would love to hear it too, but you know him - he's even worse than you when it comes to talking on the phone. Are your friends treating you right? Any problems? Anyone I should take out? I have connections, I'll put a hit on them."

"Mom, please don't put out a hit on anyone. You know you can't go back to jail," replied Shion, giggling. Judy raised an eyebrow at this, and Shion waved her off.

"Don't worry, dear, they'll never catch me. But, seriously, have you been okay?"

"I've been okay, Mom. My classes have been going great, I've been trying to push my comfort bounds a bit more... there's actually something I wanted to tell you. I have a girlfriend now."

Shion heard a gasp on the other side of the line. "Oh my goodness! Really? Who is she? How long have you been going out? Is she nice? Is she treating you well? How did you meet? How far have you gone? Has she done anything to hurt you?"

"Deep breath, mom!"

"Oh, honey, how can I relax! My little girl finally has a girlfriend! You know, I was so worried you would never find anyone. I know, I know, you kept telling me romance wasn't everything, but I knew you've been interested in a girlfriend for ages and were so disappointed when things didn't work out with Elfriede. You have to tell me everything."

"Her name's Judy Hawthorne. She's a music student over at Levins, same year as me. We met when I was helping her with some CS homework and she invited me to a concert she was performing at. She's a guitarist in a band. She's very nice, actually..." Shion trailed off as Judy waved at her. She covered her mic and made a questioning look at Judy.

"Hey, can I talk to your mom? I want to say hi if you're talking about me."

"Are you sure?" Did this count as Judy meeting Shion's parents? Was it too soon for that? ... I mean, what was the downside? She'd find out early if her parents disapproved of Judy, and it's not like them talking sealed Shion and Judy together forever. ... Why not? "Okay, sure. Hey, mom," said Shion, turning back to her phone. "Do you want to talk to her, actually? We're hanging out together right now."

"Of course I do! Hand over the phone right now, I have to talk to my daughter's new girlfriend."

Shion handed the phone over to Judy, who took it and started talking with a smile. "Hi, ma'am! ... Okay, then. Hi, Anna. I'm Judy... yep, I'm a music student... it's been a lot of fun! ... yes, I've been treating Shion well... we went out for sushi, she asked me after a concert..." Shion couldn't bear to listen after a while, and put her headphones on and went back to playing her game on her laptop. 

A few minutes later, Judy tapped Shion on the shoulder and handed the phone back over, whispering "Your mom's hilarious" as she passed it back.

"Hey mom!"

"She's wonderful, Shion. You absolutely nailed it, she genuinely likes you. I can hear it in her voice. And I can tell you're happy with her, the way you described her. Keep it up and don't let her disappoint you, you hear me?"

"... Thanks, mom."

"I've got to go now, it's getting too late for fragile old me. I just wanted to check in on my dearest and make sure she was okay. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, mom. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too, honey. Love you so much."

"Love you too mom. Bye!" Shion hung up her phone and put it back away.

"Your mom's pretty fun to talk with! Even if she threatened to have me arrested if I hurt you. That was a joke, right?"

"Hehe. She hasn't made good on the threat yet, but I don't know if I'd chance it. I promise I won't rat you out to her, okay?"

"Sounds fair to me. I have to take you to see my mom sometime. She live pretty close near here, like an hour drive away tops."

"That's pretty close! Mine are up in northern California, so I have to go fly to see them. Mostly I only chat with them during the year when I call them or they call me like that."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice being so close and being able to see them easily if I want to, or pick up or drop off stuff."

Suddenly, something Judy said finally lodged in Shion's brain. "Wait, you want me to meet your mom?"

"I mean, yeah. She's right there, meeting family is fun, no reason not to, right?"

"I know, it's just... I always thought of that as a super serious relation thing."

"Oh no... are you uncomfortable with that? Am I moving things too fast again? Oh no, agh, I'm sorry, I'm so stupid, I-"

Oh no, Judy was... actually starting to cry. Shion quickly blurted out, "No, no it's okay! Sorry, I... I didn't realize you were serious about me. I mean, like, I knew you were, but... I wasn't really thinking that I'd proven myself yet. Like I needed to be better to make you want to move forward with me. I thought you still needed to know more about me."

Judy sniffed. Shion had never actually seen Judy cry before. "I'm sorry, I'm freaking out over nothing. I'm just... I'm always going to be finding out more about you, and... you about me, and I thought... it just seemed like a fun thing to do."

"... You're still worried, aren't you? That I'm going to leave you because you do something wrong."

... Judy nodded. "Yeah. I didn't tell you, but... that's how basically all my relationships end. I said "I love you" too soon, I get too touchy with them, I tried to sleep with them too soon, my last one ended when I asked if I could leave my stuff in her room... I'm always the one moving too fast, and... I really panicked when I thought I upset you by moving too fast again."

Shion reached over and hugged Judy, cradling Judy in her arms. "Hey, it's going to be okay. I'm not going to leave you just because of one misunderstanding. That's just an opportunity to start talking and learn more. I'm absolutely okay with saying hi to your parents someday, okay?"

Judy sniffed. "... Thanks. You're so understanding and kind... I really appreciate it." It sounded to Shion like she was recovering now, at least. 

"The only emotional skills I have are listening and talking things out, really. Just doing what I can with them."

"... Thank you."

They sat like that for several minutes. Shion could feel Judy's head resting on her shoulder, Judy's arms wrapped around her, Judy's every breath on her neck... Shion pulled away to look Judy in the eyes. She could barely believe what she was about to say, but... "You know... if you want... you can spend the night, here, tonight. With me. If you want to."

"...Are you sure? I don't want to rush you."

"I'm absolutely sure. ... I don't quite know what to do, but... with you, I feel like I'll figure it out."

"You are a quick learner, after all." The color was coming back to Judy's face, and her cocky smile was coming back.

"I try my best." And Shion leaned in to kiss Judy, and...

\---

Claire finished the last details of her sketch. Ugh. She spun the sketchbook around, and could see several things she'd redo if she could redo the whole thing. But she was trying to get better about constantly redoing sketches and just finish something every day, so. Guess this'd have to stay the way it was. Time to get out the scanner and post it, she guessed.

She looked at the clock. Huh. 3:30 AM. Judy was normally back by now. She debated whether to text her to see if she was okay.

... Nah. Judy was a big girl. She can take care of herself. Claire went back to looking for the scanner.


	9. I, Robot

"Hmm." Shion stared at her Roomba - well, an iRobot, she had been too slack about the proper terminology - disassembled on her desk. "I feel like... I should name this little buddy." 

"Why now?" Judy was still lying in Shion's bed, spending the lazy Wednesday morning playing Link Between Worlds. Shion hadn't intended to make Judy go on such a long deep dive of Zelda titles, but Judy kept enjoying them and asking for more, and Shion wasn't exactly going to say no.

"I've got some ideas for how I want to mod it, and I feel like at this point it deserves a unique identity for that."

"Well, how about Sleipnir?"

"What?"

"Odin's horse. Loki was its mom. And it's a rad as hell name."

"... Norse mythology is... a thing, alright. But no, I don't really want this to be a horse-type thing. It's a robot! It needs a roboty name. Um..." Shion puzzled in thought, hand to chin. She suddenly snapped to attention and jumped out of her chair. "Customizable Autonomous Machine Ro-BOT - CAM-BOT!"

Judy shook her head. "Shion, honey... no."

"Come on, everyone loves backronyms. Right?" 

"No. You're the only one." 

"Aw." Shion pouted. 

Midori, sitting over at her desk, leaned back in her chair and took off her headphones. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Trying to name this robot once I customize it," replied Shion. "But I'm kinda stalling on ideas."

Now it was Midori's turn to pause in thought. "How about something cool like a car name? Like those letter and number combos like the Z8 or the 350Z."

Shion mused. "Hmm... how about... VX-10000! Big number for a robot with big potential."

Judy shut the 3DS and rolled over to look at Shion down from the bed. "That's a mouthful. What's its nickname then? VX-10000 sounds more like a serial code."

"Well, how about... Vixie?"

Midori nodded. "Yeah, that could work."

Judy nodded. "Vixie's a cute name."

Shion nodded. "It's decided! ... Midori, do you have a sharpie? I want to label it now."

\---

Shion proudly pressed a button on her phone. "Let's begin! The first field test of VX-10000!"

Judy stared at Vixie. Shion had set it up in the middle of her room, with a wide area cleared around it. Vixie's first attachment was a webcam attached to a black petal prop to give it a bit of heigh over the ordinarily tiny robot. Vixie was... doing nothing - oh! Its webcam moved up slowly, and then down slowly again.

Shion pumped her fists in celebration. "Yes! It works! Judy, come take a look!"

Judy peered over to Shion's phone to see - the two of them, in Shion's room, staring at her phone. And some arrow buttons. "Is that us?" asked Judy, pointing at the phone as she watched herself pointing at the phone. "I guess that is. Damn, cool!"

"And check this out!" Shion pressed one of the right buttons and - the view shifted to the right, looking at Judy now.

"That's cool. So, what do these buttons do?" asked Judy as she pressed the other right button. And Vixie turned bodily to the right, and the webcam structure tumbled to the floor, the phone showing a wonderful view of their feet.

Judy started waving her hands to protest her innocence. "It wasn't me! I didn't touch anyth-"

"No, no, it's my fault. I forgot to screw down the camera structure. Thanks for the QA pass," said Shion with a big smile.

Judy could only hope she wasn't being sarcastic, and replied "S-sure! No problem." And she was awarded with a kiss from Shion, so it all worked out, really.

\---

"Let's begin! The second field test of VX-10000! Movement test... initiate!" Shion pressed a button on her phone.

Judy this time was hovering over Vixie on catch duty in case the webcam prop fell over again. But... nothing was happening.

Shion frowned. "I said... initiate!" she shouted as she slammed her phone again. "That's weird. It should be doing something, or returning an error on here. So... what's going on."

Judy leaned in closer to Vixie and... "Hey, it sounds like it's making a whirring noise. Sounds kind of weird, though."

Shion put her phone away and walked over to Vixie. "Hmm, let me take a look." She picked up Vixie, carefully turned it over, and stared at the wheels. "Oh, here's the problem. Some loose hair got in here and is jamming up the wheels. Hey, I think this is one of yours, Judy." Judy took a look and - well, unless Shion or Midori was seeing someone else with black and red hair, there weren't a ton of candidates. 

"Huh, so it is. Sorry again for messing it up."

"No, it's really okay, this one is just sheer bad luck. I should be able to modify the guard a bit so it's less likely to pick up hairs like that again. Thanks again for the QA," she said with a kiss on Judy's cheeks. VX-10000, put back on the ground, functional once more, whirred forward until it bumped into a wall.

\---

"Let's begin! The third field test of VX-10000! Telepresence kit test... initiate!" Shion pressed a button on her phone. And... there was Midori, on the little screen on her phone.

Midori waved at the camera. "Hey, Shion! Looks good from here, can you hear me okay?"

Shion spoke clearly and slowly into the mic, "Yes, we can hear you. Can you confirm that you can see hear us?"

"Well, you pointed the phone at the ceiling, so, no." Shion sheepishly turned the phone to face herself directly again. "There you are. Looks great! Video quality's better than expected - where did you find this screen to install on Vixie?"

"I was scrounging around and found a USB monitor that was in a pile of spare parts in the engineering department, so - free part for VX-10000!", Shion gloated. "Now, let's start the long distance control test."

Shion and Judy had retreated to Judy's room on Levins while leaving VX-10000 back in Shion's room with Midori, to test both the 'telepresence kit' (a screen, a microphone, and some speakers she salvaged to go with the webcam she already installed) and the control efficiency when the phone and the robot were on different wireless networks. Judy had tried to understand what Shion was talking about when it came to getting a 4E BCD chip or something to make the robot work anywhere, but she did get that for right now it only worked near a wireless network. The two of them were now sitting on Judy's bed, staring intently at Shion's phone. Judy could barely handle the anticipation.

"Starting movement... now!" Shion pressed the button and... the view on the camera moved forward!

"Looks good from here! It's moving great. Nice job, Shion!"

"Thanks! I'm going to hang up now to conserve the battery on Vixie."

"Sounds good. Lieutenant Izawa, signing off," replied Midori with a mock salute.

Shion let out a big sigh. "I'm really glad that worked. I didn't want to keep working on the movement tech just for signal reliability..."

Judy hugged her from the side. "Nice job! I'm really proud of you, Shion."

"Hehe, thanks," Shion giggled. "It's not that impressive, though."

"Are you kidding? You have a robot you can control remotely and speak through! That's awesome!" 

"... Thanks. Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool."

"And," Judy said as she started to massage Shion's back, "seems to me like you deserve a reward for making something so cool, and it's getting pretty late..."

"Mmm... what do you have in mind?" asked Shion as Judy started kissing her neck.

\---

"Hey? Midori? Are you awake?"

Midori shook the sleep out of her eyes. It was the morning after, and she had been planning to sleep in until her afternoon classes. That sounded like Shion, but... she looked over at Shion's bed and it was empty. The hell?

"Down here." Midori looked down, and... there was Shion's face on Vixie's screen. "I kinda forgot my laptop, and I have to go to class now. Can you bring my laptop to the Levins dining hall at noon today? I don't have time to swing by the room before then."

Midori sighed. "Yeah, sure. See you then."

"Thanks! I really owe you one." Shion's face blinked out, and Vixie's camera turned down to face the ground. Midori rolled back to sleep. She'd help Shion out... eventually.


	10. This Is Halloween

judyh36: uggggh bored  
mechenjin: aren't you in class? pay attention  
judyh36: don't wanna. prof boring  
mechenjin: :[  
judyh36: fiiiine. i'll pay attention for 5 whole minutes

judyh36: okay i paid attention for 5 minutes  
mechenjin: pay attention for the whole class and i'll give you kisses <3  
judyh36: YES MAAM

Shion giggled. She enjoyed how simple Judy could be to convince at times. She went back to her homework, in the middle of a problem considering an infinite grid of one-ohm resistors...

judyh36: class is over but i can't move  
judyh36: help  
judyh36: all energy has been drained from my body  
judyh36: i'm a husk  
mechenjin: aww :( i'll miss you  
judyh36: remember me not for how i died, but for my killer bod  
mechenjin: i'll donate your guitar to charity for you  
judyh36: NO  
judyh36: BURY ME WITH BESSIE  
judyh36: wait hold on VIKING FUNERAL  
mechenjin: hahahaha  
judyh36: oh wait i just remembered i wanted to ask you  
judyh36: there's a halloween party i wanted to head to next week, did you want to come along?

Shion almost replied "nah" out of habit, but stopped. She had never actually gone to a party before - she spent her whole freshman year convinced it would be a terrible idea if she didn't really know anyone, and she would prefer to meet people in other ways. But with Judy helping out and being there to cover for her? Maybe... it'd be alright? She had pushed her boundaries so much already... maybe it'd be fun! What's the worst that could happen?

mechenjin: sure!  
judyh36: wait, really?  
mechenjin: yeah! might as well try sometime to know i have, right?  
judyh36: cool! let's stop by the halloween store later and pick up some costume stuff later then  
mechenjin: god do we have to do like full clever ideas, i need liek a month to prep those  
judyh36: nah just something to make it look like we tried  
judyh36: we can get you like. a cape and some gauntlet thingies and call you a knight  
mechenjin: throw in a toy sword and it's a deal  
judyh36: probably a bad idea to bring to the party but if you just wanna swing it around for fun then yeah  
mechenjin: heck yeah i do  
judyh36: okay i should probably get up now. you in your room?  
mechenjin: yeah doing hw  
judyh36: mind if i come give 'moral support'  
mechenjin: i can see those air quotes  
mechenjin: you typed them even  
mechenjin: but yes please  
judyh36: :) see you soon then

Now then, back to work. How DID an alternating current affect the behavior of this circuit, if at all?

\---

Conveniently, Levin was near a newly developing shopping center, and a Halloween store had taken over one of the newly-constructed store fronts temporarily. After Shion finished her own classes for the day and chopped out a good chunk of homework, the two of them headed out to take care of their minimal Halloween needs. Shion appreciated it, honestly - it made her feel like it was just the two of them more than anything else, really. A nice, comfortable feeling as they set into a comfortable stride. 

"So, what'd you wanna grab while we're there?" Judy asked, disturbing Shion from her reverie. 

Shion managed to reply, "Um, I liked that idea you had, of getting some knight gear."

"Really? I was just kind of pulling that from my ass. Any reason?"

"... This is super dumb, but I've always liked playing knights in videogames and stuff like that. If I ever played D&D I'd totally be a paladin or knight type."

"Okay, we're gonna have to back up a step. You never played D&D? No offense, Shion, but you always seemed the type."

"The group back at high school was full of creepy guys and the group at the local game store scared me like all hell. I never really got the chance to as a result." Shion couldn't help but let some of her regret creep into her voice at that point.

"I'm sorry, that really sucks."

"Nah, it's okay. It probably wouldn't have worked out, anyways. It's really the most fun when it's you and your friends having fun together, really. And, well, me and real life friends."

"You've got me now though," said Judy with a grin.

"That's true," replied Shion, taking her hand.

"So why a knight?"

"I've always wanted to be... strong. To protect people. Since I'm so not brave in real life. Being strong like that... I'd like to pretend I could be like that. ... Sorry, I must sound like a wimp. Don't worry about it." Judy didn't respond, and just gripped Shion's hand in a show of support. "So, uh, you looking for anything in particular, Judy?", Shion followed up. 

"Nah, I'm just gonna grab the first simple thing that jumps out at me. ... Hmm ..."

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing." Shion was puzzled, but didn't press further.

\---

Judy intently stared at the rack of costumes on the wall. "What in the world is 'Sexy Minion'?"

Shion paused, startled. "Wait, like the Despicable Me Minions?"

"Yeah, I think."

"That's... that's terrible."

"Yeah... gonna pass on that one. 'Sexy Nurse'? Ugh, no. 'Sexy Firefighter'? No. 'Sexy Frankenstein'? How can Frankenstein be sexy?!"

"Jeez, that sounds terri-", and then Shion saw the Sexy Frankenstein costume Judy was pointing at. It was a scientist in a low buttoned labcoat. "... wait, it's actually 'Sexy Dr. Frankenstein'?"

"Yeah, I passed 'Sexy Frankenstein's Monster' earlier."

"... I guess they're getting better at honesty in labelling."

In the end, Shion found a pair of plastic 'chainmail' gloves, a wooden sword (because it seemed fun), and a cape. Judy grabbed a pair of devil horns and called it a day ("I'm not going to try that hard for just a silly one-off thing at the last moment"). 

... A weird feeling was coming over Shion as they checked out, though. What was she doing? Remembering the old D&D groups and how scared she was to approach them was bringing back anxiety she hadn't faced in years. But... this time would be different, wouldn't it? She had Judy there to support her, and she'd been growing, and... she could do this. She'd definitely do this. She'd be brave.

\---

"So, where exactly is this party again?", asked Shion. Judy and Shion had left Judy's room, which was closer and thus the better meetup spot, to walk to the party. Normally Judy would've just met up with Shion at the party proper, but Shion hadn't really left the Ford campus much ever, so. And this was example number #1 proving Judy made the right call.

"It's over at a parking garage near Corvin. They take over the whole building for the night, there's food, music, tons of people from all the nearby colleges, it's great stuff. Went last year and I loved the hell out of it." Judy was dying to go, honestly. Being with Shion and spending a whole bunch of time with her was great, but Judy hadn't gotten the chance to go out and party in ages it felt like, between homework, concerts, and Shion, who, while adorable, was as extroverted as a turtle. ... Speaking of which, Shion looked like she wanted to hide in her shell. "Hey, you okay?" asked Judy. 

"Yeah! Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be fine."

"I'm here with you, okay? You got this." Judy gave Shion a kiss on the cheek.

"... Thanks." Shion smiled back. Judy really needed to get more photos of Shion's smiles. Plus Shion looked damn good in a cape, on top.

\---

Before long the two of them reached the parking garage. As they approached, Judy could hear the pounding music, the noise of the crowd... it sounded like the party was really going! She approached the entrance, where a crowd of people was shuffling their way in. "Hey, Shion," Judy began as she turned around, "are you going to be oka-"

Shion wasn't there. Well. This was bad. "Shion!" Judy shouted. "Where'd you go?" But she could barely hear herself over the din of the crowd to begin with. "Shion!" As she kept shouting for Shion, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out to see - oh thank goodness, a message from Shion. 

mechenjin: can't do it. i left. have fun. sorry to let you down

... Fuck, Judy thought. She couldn't leave Shion like that. 

judyh36: where are you?  
mechenjin: some stone bench. i ran back the way we came from  
judyh36: i'll be there don't move

Stone bench, stone bench... they did pass one earlier. Judy sprinted off to where she remembered seeing it.

\---

Shion couldn't stop crying. Some brave knight she was. Thought she had changed, she had grown, but she gets within ten feet of a party, not even entering the same building, and...

"Shion! There you are!" Judy's voice rung out down the street. "Thank god, I was worried I wouldn't be able to find you." Shion turned to face Judy, but could barely make her out through her tear-soaked eyes. 

"I'm s-sorry," Shion managed to get out. "I wanted to g-go for you, and... to try t-to..."

Judy sat down next to Shion and hugged her. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay. You're safe here."

"... sorry. I haven't had an anxiety attack like that in a long while, but... I don't think I can handle a party like that. Some brave knight I am."

Judy took Shion's face in her hands and stared into Shion's eyes. Before Shion could react, Judy said firmly, "You were unimaginably brave. You chose to face something big and scary to prove yourself. And for my sake too. That's incredibly brave."

"... t-thank you. ... Thanks. That's... thanks." Shion took Judy's hands in her own and leaned in to rest her head on Judy's shoulders. "... if you want, you really can go back to the party. I'm sorry for worrying you. I'll be okay now."

"Are you okay with that? You'll be fine on your own?" Shion could hear the concern in Judy's voice.

"Yeah. You really want to go, right? I can't tell you not to go have fun. It's not like we need to be together all the time. ... Even if I really enjoy it."

Judy giggled at that. "Okay. If you want to talk, I'll have my phone handy, okay?"

Shion nodded. "Come back to my room afterwards and tell me how the party went?"

Judy nodded in response. "Absolutely. I'll be back by 1, okay?" 

"Sounds good." And Shion gave her a small farewell kiss. "Stay safe, okay?"

"Can do. You be careful on the way back too, okay? Message me when you get back to your room." And Judy got up after one more farewell kiss and waved farewell to Shion.

Shion took a deep breath, and let out a sigh of relief. Even if the experiment was a failure, Judy was still so supportive... all Shion could hope for. Plus as a side effect she got a cool toy sword, so. Positive externalities.


	11. Judy's Birthday (November 8th)

"Hey Shion, you know my birthday's in three days, this Sunday, right?", asked Judy. The two of them were hanging out in Judy's room, Shion playing Audiosurf with some recordings of THE TERRAFORMER's songs and Judy listening to her own music on her laptop, working on editing it.

Shion replied, "Oh, you hadn't, thanks." After finally processing what she heard, she jumped. "Wait, Sunday?! You never said anything!"

"It was on Facebook, I thought you'd notice there. I didn't invite you to the party, but-"

"I haven't looked at Facebook since I made an account! And I only did that because it felt weird not having one when I was applying!"

"... Woops!" replied Judy with a shrug.

Shion sighed. "I guess it's my fault... I should've been more aware of things like that. Thanks for the heads up, though. You said there's going to be a party?"

"Yeah, it's my 21st and all, so Ned's taking me out drinking with the band and some other friends. I'm... gonna guess you don't want to go?"

"I'd... really prefer not to, if it's a bunch of people drinking and getting rowdy. Especially since I can't drink yet, it'd just be frustrating, scary, and boring, all at once. Kind of the worst possible thing, really."

"Yeah..." Judy replied sadly. "Hey, I'm really sorry again about dragging you to the Halloween thing."

Shion waved it off. "I agreed to go, remember? I wanted to give it a shot. So don't worry about it."

"... Okay."

"Hey, I've got an idea, actually. How about the two of us go somewhere nice for lunch that day? A little minibirthday party for you, just the two of us."

"Sounds good to me! Do you have anywhere in mind?"

"Uh-uh! I'm not saying a word! It's going to be a surprise," replied Shion with a giggle.

"Looking forward to it then," Judy countered with a grin. 

\---

After Shion was sure Judy had fallen asleep, she pulled out her phone. She had no idea where to go! What to get for Judy's birthday! What was she going to do?! 

She took a deep breath. No use panicking. Step one should be to think of a gift idea. She doubted she'd be able to go shopping anytime soon, and especially not get to a mall, so she'd have to get something online... A guitar-related gift seemed like a trap. Judy was proud of the gear she had and probably had specific goals for upgrades. She'd make a note to ask Judy what she wanted for Christmas and it'd work there, but a small personal gift seemed the better call for the birthday. 

Hmm. Two approaches leapt to mind: an accessory or a videogame. An accessory communicated "I think you'd look good with this", which was a solid gift. Videogame had the risk of being impersonal, but if it was something Judy specifically wanted... Judy had been enjoying the Zelda games Shion had been lending her... maybe a videogame accessory? One two combo right there. Ooh! Ocarina! But that has risks of Judy not being able to play it or not wanting another instrument. Save that for another time. ... What are ocarina prices like, actually? Shion checked on Amazon, and... huh. $60. That's... that's pretty reasonable for a gift actually. And it was a surprisingly good replica of the Ocarina of Time, too, and it looked quite nice. Judy could just have it as a cute display piece too. 

Ah, why not go for it, Shion thought. If it's a hit it'll be a big hit. She placed the order. A bit expensive on the shipping to get it by Saturday, but... worth it. Probably. Probably definitely. Now then, lunch places...

\---

Judy's phone alarm started beeping at her to get up. She moaned in protest and reached over to the nearby windowsill to turn it off. She turned to look at Shion to see if she was up yet, to find her sleeping on top of her phone. "... Honey, we need to talk about your electronics addiction." Judy whispered to her.

"mrmlkr. i'm good to drive," countered Shion.

"I know you don't know how to drive, Shion."

"merml nohin. mplayd gran turismo."

"Just go back to sleep, okay? I'm gonna go head to my morning class and I'll see you later." Judy gave Shion a small good morning kiss and got out of bed to get ready for the day. Judy was pretty certain Shion had stayed up too lately looking up what to do for Judy's birthday, so she figured Shion deserved to sleep in a little. Part of her was almost tempted to sneak Shion's phone out from under her to see if she left any hints open, but that'd be rude of her. Besides, the surprise would be nice. 

\---

Sunday came around, and Judy had been completely unable to tease any hints from Shion about what she had gotten for Judy's present. Judy knew there was a present, at least, because Shion had to run to the mail room to pick it up on Saturday, but she hid it before Judy even saw the box it was in. Shion had left Judy behind to go to church, so Judy had the morning to herself, and was hanging around in Shion's room waiting for her to get back. Judy was at a bit of a loss as to what to do until then, honestly - she had finished Link Between Worlds and didn't really know what game to try next, or if Shion had any more handy. So she was goofing around on Shion's laptop. 

Glancing over to see what Midori was doing, Judy noticed Midori was - driving? She had a steering wheel in her lap, pedals on the floor, and her monitor showed a race track flying by. Judy dragged her chair over to behind Midori to watch. The dashboard on the screen wasn't like any other car she had seen, but it looked high tech and fancy. And the setting was shiny - lots of cool trees and cool scenery. Looked like some kind of time trial mode, and Midori was pulling around the last turn towards the finish line, and - 2'04". Midori let out a sigh of relief. "Damn, nice job!" blurted out Judy. 

Midori jumped a little. "Ack! Sorry, didn't see you there."

"Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you. What game is this?"

"It's called Assetto Corsa, it's a racing simulator. It's my favorite in terms of hitting the sweet spot of accurate physics and good car selection."

"Is it anything like... Forza, that was it. I played Forza once."

"Nah, this is a ton more accurate on the handling and behavior of the real cars. Forza is super generous on what you're actually allowed to do."

"And you've got, like, a real steering wheel here?"

"Yeah! Finally got my parents to mail it up here. It's got force feedback that makes it feel like you're driving a real car on real roads with real grip on the road."

"That sounds really cool! Can I try it?"

"... Sorry, but I'd rather not. I have it all configured the way I like it, and it's difficult to learn for the first time."

"Nah, I get it. Wouldn't let anyone touch my guitar. Can I watch?"

"Sure! I'm driving the X-Bow R right now..."

\--- 

Shion was feeling guilty for leaving Judy alone on her birthday, but Judy swore she'd be fine, and Shion really didn't want to skip church and miss all her friends there. So instead she compromised by leaving right after the service and hustling back as fast as possible. She managed to get back before too long, but she was hoping Judy wasn't too bored as she opened the door to her room to find...

"You got this Midori! Right turn coming up ahead!"

"Got it!"

"You're hitting the straightway! Floor it!"

Shion giggled. "Judy, are you her racing coach now?"

Judy turned to look at the sudden noise. "Oh, hey Shion! Didn't realize you were back."

"Yeah, I just got back! Are you and Midori having a-"

"Stop talking or I'm going to crash, you damn lovebirds!" Midori shouted. Shion blushed and quickly stepped out the door, with Judy hopping out of her chair and following out.

"Eh, I'm sure I've imparted enough of my amazing tips that she'll get by somehow," Judy said with mock arrogance. 

"I'm sure she appreciates it."

"I didn't realize she was that much of a car nerd, though. She really knows her stuff."

"Yeah, she played games like that a lot more last year, but apparently she took her setup home and wasn't able to bring it back up here at the start of the year."

"That's pretty cool. Way more intense than I've ever been about a game."

Shion considered that for a moment. "Well, it's as intense as you are about your music, really. She practices, she gets better, she likes to show off her skills. It's a lot like that."

"Yeah, guess that's true. Maybe she could hold a performance sometime, show it off on a real race track or something."

"I've heard she's wanted to go on a real race track once she's gotten more real driving practice... anyways, let's get going. Our reservations are soon."

"Oooh! Where we going? Can I know yet?"

"Okaaaay, fine," replied Shion with mock resistance. "There's an Italian place nearby that has great reviews that I wanted to try out, if that sounded good to you."

"Sounds delicious! Let's go!" Judy gave Shion a big kiss, and Shion smiled, took Judy's hand, and lead her off towards the road.

\---

(date picture)

\---

The two of them were now coming back to Shion's room, after a long meal and a long walk back to help digest (and enjoy each other's company some more). "Man, that was sooooo good. I'm absolutely stuffed now. Best birthday lunch I've ever had," said Judy grinning ear to ear.

Shion rubbed the back of her head. "Aw, I'm sure you haven't had many good birthday lunches to compare it to. Sorry I can't make it to your real party."

"Hey, don't put yourself down like that. I loved it, okay? And I'm not expecting you to kill yourself just to be at a party you don't enjoy. That's not gonna make me happy. Seeing you happy is going to make me happy." 

Shion blushed. "Thanks. That's reassuring to hear."

The two of them were now standing outside Shion's room. Shion didn't want to let Judy go quite yet, but she was running out of - oh! "Oh, I almost forgot! Let me go get your present!" 

Judy squealed a little in anticipation. "Can't wait!"

Shion rushed into her room, rummaged underneath her desk, and grabbed the ocarina, wrapped in a silk bag along with a song book of all of the Ocarina of Time songs. Moment of truth... she walked outside and handed it out to Judy. "Here you go! I hope you like it!"

Judy opened the bag and... gasped when she saw the ocarina. "Holy crap! Is this the Ocarina of Time?! Where did you get this?!"

"I found a store that sold replicas online right after you told me your birthday was coming up, and I figured, you've been enjoying Zelda a lot, and..."

"This is super cool! It works, right? It's fine to play?" 

"Yeah, absolutely. It's supposed to be pretty solid quality too."

"Okay, I'm going to need to practice a bit before I try, but I am so going to play this for you tomorrow. This is so cool! Thank you so much, Shion!" Judy threw her arms around Shion and pulled her into a big hug. So... good gift! Shion was proud of herself.

"You should get going so you can get ready for your big party," replied Shion, reluctantly pushing Judy away. "Have a good time, okay?"

"Can do. I promise I won't get arrested."

"... is that something I should be worrying about?"

"Nope! Because I have that covered."

"I'm definitely worried, then."

"I promise I won't get arrested!"

"You better not!" Shion waved as Judy ran off. ... Man though. Shion nailed that gift. 

\---

Later that night, at 1 AM, Shion finally got a message from Judy, just one line.

mechenjin: OH MY GOD IF YOU HAD COME YOU WOULD HAVE DIED

Shion felt less guilty about not going.


	12. Thanksgiving Sucks

"So your flight home's tomorrow morning, then?" asked Judy.

"Yep, I've got a shuttle I'm sharing with a few other people early in the morning," replied Shion.

The two of them were having dinner together in the Ford dining hall, on the last Tuesday before their Thanksgiving breaks. Judy's family was close by, so she could just have her parents come pick her up, but Shion's family lived up in northern California and wanted her back for Thanksgiving. 

Judy poked at her food with her fork - a salad didn't seem particularly appetizing right now. "It's gonna be our first time we haven't been able to see each other, you know."

Shion sighed. "Yeah... I'm going to miss you, you know."

Shit, Judy thought. She didn't mean to make Shion sad. Time to put on a strong face. "Hey, it'll be okay. We can just keep messaging each other, right? And you'll get to hang out with your family again, meet up with some of your old church friends, right?"

"Yeah, that's true. I've just... really grown used to your company."

"And my hugs and kisses." Shion blushed in response - Judy had landed a direct hit! "It won't be that long," Judy continued, "just a few days. You can make it that long, right?"

"Yeah, I can. Are you going to be okay, Judy?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to work on some new songs, so maybe with you gone I can finally sit down and grind them out. Hard to concentrate with my beautiful girlfriend hanging around."

Shion protested, "Hey, I know you're just trying to tease me now!", blushing regardless. But Shion was finally smiling again, and that sight made Judy happy again too. 

"Lemme just finish this off and we'll go get you packed up, sound good?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

\---

Shion's shuttle and flight passed by before she knew it, and now she was waiting at the luggage carousel to pick up her bag before going out to find where her parents were waiting to pick her up. Her farewells to Judy has been a little sad, but she had managed to push through it. Besides, she did love her family, and Thanksgiving was always fun - her mom always prepared so much delicious food, and... Shion's phone buzzed. She turned it on to check who it could be.

judyh36: turn on vixie's stream

Puzzled, Shion opened her browser to the familiar bookmark, logged in, and saw - a room she didn't recognize. Judy was sitting on a bed, there were band posters on the wall she didn't recognize. "Hey, Judy, what's going on?" asked Shion.

"Oh!" Judy jumped, apparently not noticing VX-10000 had turned on. "Hey Shion! I took Vixie over to my parent's house!"

"You what?! Don't let it get hurt!"

"It's fine! I carried it myself. This way you'll be able to visit us for Thanksgiving too!"

Shion couldn't believe Judy would touch her robot like - but this was a really nice gesture. And it meant they could video chat more, and Shion could see more of Judy's place even on vacation... "Thanks, Judy. I really appreciate that, but be careful! I don't want it to get hurt while I'm away."

"I'll be ultra careful. And now we get to see each other even though we're far apart."

"You realize you could've just called me on Skype, right? You didn't have to bring VX-10000 with you."

"This was way more fun. And Vixie's mic is way better than my cruddy old phone."

"That's true, I guess. ... Thanks, Judy. I have to go now, but thank you, really. It means a lot that you're trying to keep in touch."

Judy grinned. "No problem. Anything to keep in touch with you."


	13. Christmas Is Good, But Still Kinda Sucks

"Thanks again for the ride to the airport, Mrs. Hawthorne!" Shion said, breaking the silence in the car. She and Judy had been holding hands and avoiding each other's glances for a while, dancing around the fact that Shion was going to be leaving back for home soon. But silence could only fill the air so long, and Shion couldn't bear it much longer.

"No problem dear. You're basically part of the family now. And call me Shannon," replied Judy's mom. 

Judy protested, "Aw, Mom, don't scare her like that."

"It's fine, Shion understands I'm sure. Any friend of Judy's is a friend of the family."

Shion giggled. Judy's mom - er, Shannon, Shion corrected herself - certainly seemed to approve of her, at least. Which was important - well. It was, right? If this relationship kept moving forward? And, things were good, right? And - Shion decided it wasn't time to figure that out now. Focus on the now. "Thanks again for agreeing to let me come over before school starts back up, too!"

"Absolutely no problem, dear. I know Judy will miss you terribly while you're gone, after all."

"Mom!" Judy sounded upset, but she was grinning ear to ear. Shion guessed they had a fairly playful relationship, after all. Judy's m- Shannon had seemed fairly staid and kind of standoffish when Shion first talked to her, but Shion was realizing that was just how J- Shannon expressed herself. Shion resolved to ask more the next time she was chatting with Judy.

"I'm sorry, Judy, I don't mean to upset you," replied Shannon with a grin of her own. "I think we're coming up on the airport terminal now. What airline are you on again, Shion?"

"Um, Southwest, please. Thanks." ... Shion didn't want to leave yet. Three weeks without Judy... even knowing they'd have a week together, Shion felt like she was losing a part of herself. It was dramatic, but their relationship had come to mean a lot to Shion... more than she expected, really. And... Shion turned to look at Judy instead of just blanking out. ... Judy was beautiful, she thought. And if somehow in response, Judy blushed and looked away.

The car pulled up to the curb. They had finally arrived at the airport. "Here we are! Judy, can you help Shion get her stuff out from the trunk?"

"... Sure, Mom." Judy hopped out of the car and circled around to the back, as Shion followed. The airport was bustling with people getting ready to travel for the holidays and traffic shuffling to and fro, so they couldn't dally long. Judy opened the truck, and Shion took out her purse as Judy hauled out her luggage. "Jeez, this is heavy, what'd you pack in here?" Judy complained.

"Just some stuff for some personal projects, sorry. Is it too heavy? I can take it-"

"No, no, it's okay. Here you go," replied Judy as she placed the luggage on the ground and pushed it over on its wheels to Shion. "... I'm really going to miss you, Shion. Feels like you just got back after Thanksgiving and here we are splitting up again..."

Shion couldn't respond at first, so she reached over and hugged Judy. Judy jumped a bit in surprised, but hugged Shion right back. Shion whispered, "We're going to stay in touch. I'm not going to miss you, because I'm going to talk to you every day, and I'm going to know that we'll be back together in three weeks, and it's going to be great, because every moment with you is great. You're wonderful."

Judy whispered back, "Shion..."

Shion brought Judy's head around to give her a kiss. "I'll message you as soon as I land, okay? And for me... take care of yourself, and be happy. You're important to me. And I'll be happy myself, too."

"... Jeez, normally I'm the talky one, where'd you find all this strength from?"

"You, obviously."

Judy blushed. "... Okay. You better message me the instant you land!"

"Promise." And Shion finally let go. "See you in three weeks," said Shion with the largest smile she could muster.

Judy looked down at the ground, taking a deep breath, before looking up again with a big grin and exclaiming, "Yeah! See you in three weeks!", with a big wave goodbye. Shion waved back, and turned to walk into the terminal.

Shion... didn't feel sad anymore. She knew things were going to be okay. She knew Judy loved her, and...


	14. New Year's Eve

Shion poked away at her Minecraft castle some more. Not the most glamorous activity for New Year's Eve, but her parents were asleep and her local friends were all staying at home to celebrate privately. She didn't mind, honestly - even if anything was going on, she doubted she'd actually go to anything, especially without Judy around, her main motivator for going out and - Shion mock shivered - socializing. Besides, here she could...

"Uggh. I'm back. I took the... friggin' Dayquil. Are you happier now?" Judy limped back into view on Shion's second monitor and collapsed onto her bed once more, her face half-buried into her pillow and wearing an oversized band shirt for PJs.

"I definitely am. It should kick in in about 15 to 20 minutes and you should at least feel less strained from the cold."

"'snot fair. Haven't been sick in... friggin' years. And now on... friggin'... New Year's..." Judy sniffled as she rolled over in bed to face her camera. Thankfully, Judy had gotten a nice mic and webcam for Christmas to record her playing guitar for Youtube. As a result, they were chatting on their computers instead of using VX-10000, who was locked away in Shion's dorm for the duration of the break.

"I'm really sorry, Judy. But at least we're getting to spend it together, right?" Shion tried her best to give Judy a supporting smile. 

"... yeah. That's true, at least. Thanks for being here. Well. Hereish." Judy tried to laugh, but ended up coughing instead. 

"Hey, you okay? Do you need to get some water?"

"No. 'm fine. Good to play. Put me in coach."

Shion couldn't help but smile. Even when she was totally drained from an unlucky cold, Judy still had her sense of humor. Shion desperately wanted to be there in person to take care of Judy, but she still wouldn't be visiting Judy's place for another two weeks. So she was doing what she could through the internet, giving Judy help. "You sure you're okay to stay up til midnight with me? You seem pretty wiped."

"'m been napping all day at this point, Shishi. I can't sleep more now. Besides, w'nna be here. W'you."

"Shishi? Is that my nickname now?"

"Yeah. Shishi. 'Cause... it's cute. And you're cute."

"Aw, thanks, Judy. Sorry I can't come up with a good nickname for you."

"'Sokay. You're the cuter one in this relationship, you deserve the... cute. Names. Stuff."

"Aw, Judy, you're plenty cute too."

"Not with this... shitty... sick thing. Cold. I'm sick."

"Yes you are."

Judy's face took on a contemplative look. "... Hey, Shion. Thank you... for helpin' me. Means a lot to have someone lookin' out for me."

"It's really no problem, Judy. I want to be there for you. You're important to me, you know."

"Thanks... you too, Shishi. You're... important."

Shion paused. Judy was... really important to her, she was realizing. And Shion always felt so happy around Judy, and Judy was happy around her, and they've shared so much at this point... maybe...

Judy started mumbling as Shion was lost in thought. "'s one minute to go. Wanna count down?"

"... Yeah, I'll count down for us, okay? Let me get this clock open." Shion fumbled for a second before opening the clock on her computer. "Forty seconds to go."

"I can make that."

... "Thirty seconds to go."

"Nearly there."

... "Fifteen now."

"Yeah." Judy clearly meant to be more excited but could barely muster the energy.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Happy new year, Judy!"

"Happy new year, Shishi. Yay." Even without the energy in her voice, Shion could see Judy's smile trying to form.

"Going to be our first year together as a couple!"

"Yeah... that's pretty rad. 'm enjoying this a lot. Enjoyin' us. You."

Shion took a deep breath. "... Hey, Judy?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, Judy."

Judy paused, then... smiled the tiniest yet happiest smile Shion had ever seen on her. "I love you, Shion."

"Let's keep this up for the new year, okay? I've grown to love our relationship, and you, and even if I'll never know everything about our future together... I want to keep moving towards that future. With you."

"'s too many big words for me right now, Shishi. But... same. Yeah. Love you."

"Aw, I'm sorry. Do you want to go to sleep now and get some more rest?"

Judy feebly shook her head. "Nah. Wanna... stay up and look at my girlfriend more. She loves me, you know."

"Oh, really? I hadn't heard."

"Yeah... 'mma luckiest girl in the world. Wanna enjoy that."

"Sounds like a plan. I'm going to build my castle a bit more before bed."

"What's it like? Wanna hear bout it."

"Well, right now I'm working on an expansion for..."


	15. Sometimes Practice Doesn't Happen

Finally, after several weeks of being apart, Shion was back together with Judy, and the two of them were hanging out in Judy's room at her parent's house. They had plans for dinner later that night, but Shion appreciated the time she spent just... lazing around with Judy. Being near her made her happy just as much as doing things with her, sometimes. So the two of them had just spent the lazy morning together, Shion on her computer and Judy on her guitar. Shion was relaxing, cruising around the internet - crud, AGDQ was starting soon, she remembered. "Hey, Judy? Is it okay if I watch something while you're practicing?" 

Judy didn't reply at first, focusing intently on something about the note sequence she was practicing. It sounded nice to Shion - well. She thought it sounded nice, originally, probably? Is it possible to be wrong about one's own opinion? Judy had been playing it over and over for several minutes now, and to Shion it was like when you read a word over and over and it doesn't mean anything anymore. 

Shion considered interrupting Judy with a surprise hug, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster while Judy was holding her guitar. So she leaned over to the far end of Judy's bed and tapped Judy on the shoulder. Judy, startled, jumped a bit and turned to Shion. "Oh, sorry, Shishi. Guess I was focusing too hard. You need something?"

Shion had meant to ask about something else, but seeing Judy's beautiful face again, looking into her cute blue eyes... "Well, maybe, a kiss would be nice," Shion replied with a mischievous grin. Judy smiled, leaned in, and gave Shion a long kiss. Reluctantly pulling away, Shion remembered what she was originally asking. "Oh, yeah. Is it okay if I watch this stream while you practice? Do you want me to wear headphones or something?"

"Oh, I mean, I could wear headphones instead. I could probably hear myself better anyways."

"Is that okay? I don't mean to-"

Judy shook her head. "It's really okay, Shishi. Lemme go grab my headphones." She put down her guitar and got up off the bed to rummage around her dresser, covered in clothes that covered up wherever her headphones could possibly be. Shion... kind of worried about Judy's cleanliness, but had accepted it as just part of her character. Besides, Judy hadn't particularly messed up Shion's room back at college, so it wasn't a problem for Shion yet. "What are you watching, anyways?" Judy asked as she continued to look.

"Awesome Games Done Quick's starting in a few minutes. I completely forgot until just now, and I've never caught the opening."

"What's that? Never heard of it."

"Oh, really? I absolutely love it, do you want to watch with me? Oh, wait, I should tell you what it is. It's a charity event where a bunch of people speed run videogames, there's like donation drives and incentives for specific challenges, it's super fun."

"Any games in particular, or?"

"I can bring the schedule up here... it's going to be Splatoon first, then Super Monkey Ball."

"Man, I've never gotten the chance to play Splatoon, but I've seen a few of the commercials. You think it'll be fun to watch?"

"Definitely! It's going to be a half-hour til that starts up, but I'll tell you once it comes on."

"Thanks! Should be fun." Judy finally found her headphones, plugged them in to her laptop she was using as her amp, and picked up her guitar to practice again. Shion started the stream.

\---

Judy gasped. "Holy crap! How did he make that jump?!" 

Shion shook her head, mouth agape. "I don't know! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"This is a Wii game, right? Is he using motion controls for all this?!"

"I think so!"

"Holy crap!" Judy grabbed Shion in a tight hug. "This is too tense!"

Any hope of Judy continuing her practice had completely disipated.


	16. Injured

Judy plugged in her guitar to her amp. The band was almost done setting up for their first performance for the semester, starting things off in the Hothouse Coffeeshop again. Judy suspected Ned had an in with one of the managers of the coffeeshop, considering how easily he got this booked and their first one, but she didn't ask any further. Ned was the band manager, Judy's job was just to compose and perform, and she liked it that way. She experimentally strummed Bessie to make sure things were working, and turned to tell Ned she was ready to go. For some reason, however, Ned wasn't there. Rain was at her drums, Andy was... standing there, but Ned wasn't anywhere on stage. "Hey, Rain," Judy asked, "where'd Ned scamper off to?"

Rain shrugged. "He just stepped backstage, he was muttering something in a rage. I didn't want to ask, but that might be the appropriate task."

Judy sighed. Time for more Conflict Resolution Judy, her other job in the band. "Fine, I'll go talk to him." She put Bessie down and started to walk backstage when her foot caught on a cable. Ugh, she thought, we need to keep our stage setup more clean. She moved to shake it off her foot when Andy, who wasn't paying attention to anything, pulled on his amp's power cable - the cable that was currently caught on Judy's foot. Before she realized what was going on, Judy started tumbling forward from the sudden tripwire. She tried to catch herself but ended up pulling down one of Rain's drums, landing squarely on it with a huge THUMP. Judy let out an involuntary yell as pain shot through her hips, legs, and arms. The coffeeshop, previously bustling with the noise of the crowd filling in for the show, went silent.

Shion, who had been sitting at one of the tables near the stage, shot up from her chair and ran up to Judy. "Judy?! Are you okay?"

"Ow ow ow fuck ow fuck ow no. God, ow, don't... land on a drum, ow." 

Rain got up from her drum set to check on Judy as well, and Andy even came over, to Judy's shock. "Holy crap, are you alright?" Andy asked.

"... shit, you can talk? Owwww." replied Judy.

Andy shook his head. "At least you can think straight, probably don't have a concussion. Is anything broken? Can you stand? Are you bleeding anywhere?"

"Gimme... gimme a second. I'll be able to get up." Judy tried to push herself up from the floor, but could barely muster the strength in her arms to do it. She managed to roll over and prop herself up, but didn't have the strength in her arms or legs to go up any further. "Okay. That was a lie. But it doesn't feel like anything's broken, just... everything hurts. Ow."

Andy reached around Judy's back to help support her, and nodded at Shion. "Hey, you're her girlfriend, right? Can you help me lift her up and walk her out of here? We need to get her lying down on a bed and iced. She's in no shape to perform." Shion nodded and reached around to support Judy. Andy continued, "Okay, on the count of three... one, two, THREE!" as they lifted Judy up. "Don't think she'll need to go to a doc, it should just be bad bruising. How's your ankle feel? Can you step on it?"

"That's... probably the one part that doesn't hurt right now. Ow."

"Probably not a sprained ankle then. Let's start walking."

"Come on, ow, I can probably still play. Let's keep going."

Andy glared at her. "Who's the one with first aid training here?"

Judy stared in confusion. "Uhh..."

"... Oh, yeah. I never told you. It's me. You can't stand, you can't play." 

"But, ow, you can get me a chair and I'll play sitting down. It'll be fine." 

"Trying to play more is going to make it hurt more and will probably sound like shit anyways. We're getting you out of here." 

"But what about the show? We can't just let everyone down!" Judy protested.

Andy shook his head more emphatically. "I'll cover guitar for you, okay? You go rest."

As Judy finally started walking away with Andy and Shion, Ned came out from backstage to see the mess of drums, the stunned crowd, and Judy being walked off the stage. He boggled before finally shouting "What the hell happened?! I was just answering the phone for a second!"

\---

Shion had walked Judy back to her room with Andy's help, and had put her in bed and put an ice pack on her right arm, which had taken the brunt of the fall. Currently she was rummaging through Judy's desk drawers for some ibuprofen.

"You - ow - sure you didn't miss it? I could've sworn - ow - it was in the top drawer over there."

"Hey, don't talk if it hurts. I'll check there one more ti- oh! Here it is." Shion pulled out the ibuprofen from the bottom drawer and picked up the glass of water she had already poured. "Okay, take these. It should help with the pain and the swelling." 

"Thanks." Judy sat up with great hesistation, took the pills, and swallowed them with a single gulp of water. "God, I'm - ow - so pissed though. Friggin' Andy not letting me play..."

"Judy, you could barely stand up, you couldn't play -"

"I would've found a way! I-" Judy suddenly shouted, then stopped at seeing Shion's shocked face. "Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It's okay, I'm sorry for getting mad."

"... No, no, it's okay, I was just surprised. It's just one show, okay? There'll be another time."

Judy slowly let herself back down onto her pillows. "It's just... what if there isn't?"

Shion reached out a supportive hand to rub Judy's head. "What do you mean? There'll be another show, won't there? Ned's good at booking, and..."

"It's just... what if I had injured my wrist really badly and I can't play for months? What if the band falls apart while I'm out? What if this disaster makes them less likely to book us next time? And... even if this works out, what's going to happen in the long run? I doubt Ned or Rain are going to be performing forever, they've got other career paths they're going on, I dunno what Andy's going to do, and we might just split up after college. Is that going to be it? Am I going to get the chance to perform again?"

Shion couldn't think of a response.

Judy continued, "That's what I'm afraid of, really. I know I only have so many performances in me, and that there's always the chance that any single one could be my last. And I love that feeling so much... I don't want to give it up. I want to ride this train as long as I can."

"... Hmm. Do you know what I think, Judy?"

"What?"

"If this is that important to you, you'll find a way to fit it in your life. You'll always take the opportunities you can perform and make the most of them, because it's your passion, and that can only be smothered so long. Besides, there are far worse guitar players that are far less passionate than you that get to perform," Shion joked.

"Haha - ow - that's true, I guess."

"So believe in your passion and take the time now to rest and recover so you can keep performing. Pushing yourself won't do anyone any good."

"... Okay. If you say so, Shishi," replied Judy with a grin. "Give me a kiss so I can feel better?"

Shion smiled. "Sure thing," she replied, and she leaned in to give Judy a kiss.


	17. Preferences, or, The Gang Fills Out An Askmeme

Judy's favorite froyo flavor is strawberry. Shion's is pistachio.

Judy's favorite pizza toppings are pepperoni & sausage. Shion's are "whatever goes on a veggie pizza, but particularly olives."

Judy's favorite song is Layla by Eric Clapton. Shion's favorite song is Teknopathetic from Jet Set Radio Future. 

Judy's favorite candy is Snickers. Shion's is Skittles. Judy's Snikittles experiment ended in tragedy.

Judy's nickname for Shion is Shishi. Shion tried really hard to think of a nickname for Judy but couldn't.

Shion's favorite dog breed is English Bulldogs. Judy's favorite is Golden Retrievers.

Shion's favorite sport is baseball. Judy's is basketball. Football (of both varieties) is an acceptable substitute for both.

Shion's favorite Zelda game is Link to the Past. Judy's is Ocarina of Time because it was the first one Shion lent her. 

Shion's favorite type of food is sushi. Judy's is "a good burger. Not like that fast food In-N-Out or 5 Guys shit people keep saying is good - a REAL good burger."

Shion's favorite movie is Macross Plus. "Duh." Shion's favorite live-action movie is Singing in the Rain. Judy's favorite is Mad Max: Fury Road. "Duh." Judy's favorite animated movie is Spirited Away.

Shion's favorite Magic: The Gathering deck is her Sydri, Galvanic Genius deck. Judy doesn't play Magic, but she thought Radha, Heir to Keld looked neat.

Judy's favorite cracker-like snack is Cheez-Its. (It's the fuzz! She laughs every time she makes the joke.) Shion's is Wheat Thins. They both HATE Goldfish.

Judy's first Pokemon game was FireRed, and her latest was Y. Shion's first Pokemon game was Sapphire, and her latest was Alpha Sapphire. "Who cares about Groudon? Groudon sucks. WATER AND TRUMPETS!"

Judy's favorite pokemon is Charizard. "Bwar! Fire!" Shion's favorite pokemon is Dratini from Gen 1, Scizor from Gen 2, Gardevoir from Gen 3, Garchomp from Gen 4, Golurk from Gen 5, and Mega Gardevoir from Gen 6. ("Okay, Shishi, honey. One, the question was what's your favorite overall. Two, a mega evolution is cheating." "Fiiiiiine.") Her Gen 6 favorite is *actually* Vivillon, and her overall favorite is Gardevoir.

Shion's favorite Gundam series is War in the Pocket, "but I'm really more of a Macross fan." Judy's is "uhh. I saw Gundam Seed on TV when I was a kid. So... that?"

Shion's favorite Three Kingdoms character is Guan Yu, "I know it's just the popular thing to say, but I'm not really super familiar with the original text, just the adaptations." Judy's favorite is "I have literally never heard of that."

Judy's favorite Undertale character is Mettaton. Shion's is Alphys. Judy's favorite song is "ugh. Don't make me choose. Uhh... Megalovania, but Death By Glamour is a close second." Shion's is Bonetrousle. "I've got a playlist of 30 versions of Bonetrousle I like to listen to while I work."

Judy's favorite cake is chocolate cake. Shion's is - "Judy, is this for my birthday? Are you making us fill this whole thing out just to figure out what to do for my birthday?" "No, I swear! Total coincidence." "I've got my eye on you." - ice cream cake.

Judy's favorite cat breed is "fluffy." Shion's is "... I don't know cat breeds. This has never come up before."

Shion's favorite fandom is Macross. Judy's is Les Paul guitars. "That's a fandom?" "Do you want to see proof?" "No, I trust you."

Shion's first word was Mama. Judy's first word was Fuck. "Seriously? Fuck?" "Honest to god! My mom couldn't stop laughing and my dad was just stone faced embarrassed, becaues he knew it was his fault."

Shion - "What's with this entire section on sex?! Where'd that come from?" "Just skip it." "But that'll ruin the integrity of the ask me- I just heard what I was saying. Never mind."

Shion's favorite videogame character is Elma from Xenoblade X. Judy's favorite videogame character is Zelda. "Oh, did I tell you about Hyrule Warriors?" "No, you hadn't." "You can play as Zelda and stab hordes of monsters to death." "SIGN ME UP."

Judy's favorite thing about Shion was her kindness and her enthusiasm. Shion's favorite thing about Judy was how cool she was and how fun she was to be with. Plus her smokin' hot bod. "Judy, stop editing my answers!" "But it's true! See, you're blushing!" "Judy!" "Okay, okay, I'll take it out." "... it is true, though." "What's that? I didn't hear you?" "Nothing!"

Shion's favorite color is blue. "Now they ask this?!" Judy's is red. "Shishi, I'm pretty sure you're thinking about this harder than whoever wrote it." 

Shion's most prized possession is VX-10000. Judy's most prized possession is Bessie.

Shion's best friend is tetsujin86. "Who the hell is tetsujin86?" "We met on Twitter back in high school and we've been best buds for years." "Do you know their real name?" "No, why would I?" Judy's best friend is mechenjin. "Aw. Now I feel guilty for not putting you." "It's okay, I'm messing with you." Judy's best friend is theterraformersofficial.

Shion tags "ugggh. I hate this part. Everyone who reads it." Judy tags mechenjin. "I just filled it out!" "NOW YOU HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN! MWAHAHA!"


	18. Valentine's Date

Shion rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes. How late was she up last night? She reached over to grab her phone and check the time. 8:30 AM... her sleep schedule had been drifting further and further back. Normally she got up bright and early, but Judy had been a bad influence on her more and more. She rolled over in bed to glare at Judy to see she... wasn't there? That was weird. She knew Judy was right there last night, but... maybe Judy left a message. Shion opened her phone and checked her messages to find one new notification.

judyh36: yoooo! had to step out for a surprise but back before long. meet you back at your room

Huh, thought Shion. A surprise? For what... oh! It was Valentine's Day! She mentally kicked herself for forgetting, but it looks like Judy was taking the charge on this one, at least. She hopped out of Judy's bed to get ready to head back over to her room. She wanted to get changed for church before long, so hopefully Judy wouldn't be out too late. The message was sent at 7:30 AM, so hopefully Judy'd be back soon. Shion'd ask Claire if she knew anything, but recently Claire had invested in earplugs and a sleep mask. "See, the sleep mask is pink, to be friendly, to indicate we're still friends," Claire had explained. "And the earplugs indicate you are too loud, and I need my beauty sleep. You get it? Good." So no bugging Claire until she was actually awake.

\---

As Shion made her way back to her room, she spotted Judy from a distance waiting just outside the door, holding something behind her back. Shion waved, and Judy saw her and waved back. Shion picked up her pace and hustled to Judy. "Hey Judy! Didn't realize you got up so early."

"Hey honey! I got up early to get you... these!" Judy pulled out a vase full of roses from behind her back. "Didn't know what kind of flowers you liked, but I figured roses would be a hit."

"Oh my goodness, thank you, Judy!", Shion replied, taking the roses. "I'm sorry I didn't get you any flowers, it just completely slipped my mind."

"Nah, it's okay, I would've killed them anyways. Terrible at taking care of flowers. Only good at taking care of you."

Shion blushed. "Well, thank you, Judy. I'll take care of it instead, then. The sunlight's pretty good by my windowsill, anyways. Really, thanks, these look beautiful! I love them."

Judy grinned. "Well, I love you," she said as she leaned in to kiss Shion. 

"I love you, too." Now it was Shion's turn to grin. "I have to go get ready for church, though. Do you have any plans for today?"

"Yeah, I got us dinner reservations at a nice Italian place."

"... Wait, didn't we go to an Italian place for your birthday? Is that the same place?"

Judy paused. "... Shit! It is! Aw, dammit, I'm sorry, it completely slipped my mind."

"Aw, it's okay. It was a great place, and I'm sure it'll be a fun place for Valentine's." Shion gave Judy another kiss on the cheek. "Church might run a little long today, so you should probably have lunch without me. I'll see you again once I'm ready for dinner, okay? And thank you again for the roses."

"Sounds good! I'll be in my room when you get back." And Judy waved goodbye to Shion as Shion went to put her roses away and get ready and Judy left back to her room.

\--- 

"Ooo, pretty roses! From Judy?" exclaimed Midori as Shion came in. 

"Yeah! I... don't really know how to take care of them, but they're super nice to look at, at least."

"Oh, do you want help taking care of them? I'm pretty good with flowers, actually."

Shion paused in thought for a second. "Guess you have a real... green thumb," Shion said with a giggle.

"I have never heard that joke before. Thank you for your insightful humor," Midori deadpanned.

"Sorry, sorry. Couldn't help it. Should I just put it on the windowsill for now?" 

"Yeah, put it over there for now so it can get son. I'll help you with plant food later if you want to keep them alive for a while."

"Thanks, Midori!" Shion placed down the roses and adjusted them a bit. That looked good, she thought. Right? "So, do you have any plans today, Midori?"

"Nah, my boyfriend's out of town right now. He has a race in Barcelona this weekend, and I couldn't spare the time off, so."

"... Barcelona? What's he doing the- a race?"

"... Have I not told you about my boyfriend? Oops."

"Okay, I have to get ready to head out soon, but... I think you have a story to tell me when I get back."

"I'll tell you all the details, don't worry."

\---

Judy entered her room again to find Claire drawing away in her sketchpad. "Yo. Mind if I practice?"

"Go ahead," replied Claire without looking up. "Oh, wait," she continued, suddenly reaching over to her side table to grab a piece of paper. "This is for you and Shion. Happy Valentine's." Judy took it to find... a drawing of her and Shion sharing a milkshake.

"Aw, Claire, this is really sweet! Thank you."

Claire shook her head. "Don't mention it. Really, don't ever mention it to anyone. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Is it okay if I share it with Shion?"

"Yeah, that's fine. I was working on anatomy practice and thought the two of you would make a good practice couple. So, there you go."

"Well, thank you for choosing us. Did you draw anyone else?"

"Not yet. Working on the next one now. Cute girl in class."

"Well, good luck then!"

"Thank you. Back to concentrating, putting in my earplugs." And Claire promptly did so, putting an end to the conversation.

Judy smiled. Bit of an odd gift, but it was a cute drawing. Maybe Shion'd like to see it. She tucked it in her pockets and began to set up her computer for practice.


	19. Shion's Birthday Party (Feb 28)

"Okay, Shion, keep your eyes closed, no peeking!" teased Judy as she lead Shion back to her room from lunch.

Shion, covering her eyes with the hand Judy wasn't pulling, replied "I'm not looking, I swear! ... okay, but can I look where I'm walking, please, I'm going to trip on something."

"Don't worry, I'm looking out for you. Almost there..."

"Why do I even have to have my eyes closed on the way here if the surprise is in my room? It's not like-"

Shion was cut off as Judy opened the door to Shion's room, letting out a loud "SURPRISE!". Shion jumped at the sudden noise and opened her eyes to find Ned, Midori, and Claire inside. Ned was wearing a party hat and blowing one of those annoying rollout horns, Midori was holding a cake, and Claire was... reading something?

"Happy birthday, Shion!" Midori cheered as she put the cake down on a plastic table set up in the middle of the room. "It's just us, Judy said you didn't want anything large. Hope that's okay."

Shion shook her head and smiled. It was a little intimidating, but... it did feel nice to have people celebrating with her and Juyd. "No, this is great! Thanks everyone. What's the cake?"

"Ice cream cake, just like you like," replied Judy as she gave Shion a peck on the cheek. 

Ned impatiently bounced up and down. "Can we open the present yet? I wanna open the present!" 

"Aren't we supposed to have cake first, presents later?" Midori chided, wagging her finger at Ned. 

"It's fine, she can read it during cake to get ready."

"Guys!" Judy mock whispered. "No spoilers about the present!"

"Aw, you guys didn't have to get me a present-" Shion started.

Claire lowered the big book she was reading to cut Shion off. "Well, it's kind of a present for all of us. A little selfish, but. Hope you like it." She handed the book she was reading over to Shion. Shion took it and read the cover. 'D&D Players Handbook, Fifth Edition.' She looked over and Ned held up a Starter Kit.

"D&D party! Everyone else is playing, and I'm going to be the DUNGEON MASTER," Ned said with glee, putting his hands up as if the title was on display in lights. 

Shion paused, then gasped. "Oh my God, seriously?! Thank you guys so much! Judy, was this your idea?"

Judy grinned. "Yep! I actually listened!"

Shion leaned in and kissed Judy. "Thank you guys so much for all agreeing to play, too!"

Claire smiled. "It seemed fun anyways."

Ned was lost in his own world still. "Dungeon Master... Can I change my stage name..."

Midori held up the cake again. "Okay, but seriously, we should eat the cake while everyone gets familiar with the rules."

\---

Ned looked up from the 'How To Run The Campaign' instructions and looked around the table. "Okay guys, do you have your characters picked out?"

Judy raised her sheet. "I'm Judy the half-elf rogue!"

Ned shook his head. "Nuh-uh. No using your real name, that's cheating. Put some imagination into it."

Judy pouted. "Fine, I'm... Nails the half-elf rogue."

"Much better. Shion, who're you?"

Shion beamed. "I'm Elandrin Cosmos, an elf paladin of Pelor, god of light. As a child, I grew up in... here, I have it written here if you want to read it."

"... you've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"

Shion blushed, but her grin didn't go away. "Yeah... a little."

"Well, I'll make sure to incorporate that into the story. Midori?"

"I'm George the ranger. I used to be a hunter, but I'm taking up adventuring due to a lack of income nowadays."

"Good stuff, good stuff. Claire?"

"Esmerelda the wizard. I'm an illusionist."

"Cool! Let's get started then. The four of you are making your way to the town of Leaflake..."

\---

"The innkeep is thankful for the help you've given him today. He's offering you a room for the night for free."

Shion shook her head. "I could hardly take that. We just did what we had to to protect the people here."

"Aw, come on, Shi- Elandrin. Can't we just take it? A nice comfortable bed sounds like a good reward after fighting off goblins."

"The innkeeper really insists. He owes you his life for saving the inn."

"You know," said Midori, "it'd probably be rude for us not to take the reward, honestly. If he offers it in good faith."

"As a wise philosopher once said, 'fuck you, pay me.'" contributed Claire. "I'm not leaving without some reward for all this."

"Okay, okay," Shion said with a smile, "looks like I'm outvoted. Yes, innkeep, we'd love to spend the night."

\---

"From the caves, you see a goblin patrol step ou-"

"I fireball them," Claire announced as she rolled her dice. "Does a 16 hit?"

Midori jumped in her seat. "What? No! Don't fireball them! We have the advantage!"

"Yeah, and I'm using it. So?"

Judy nodded in agreement. "I'm liking this full speed plan. Let's go for it. I rush in."

Shion sighed. "Guess there's no helping it. I charge in as well."

Midori grabbed her hair in frustration. "Am I the only one trying not to get us all killed here?"

\---

"You find... a room full of treasure!"

Shion pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from under the table. "Okay guys, before anyone touches anything let's determine loot rules. Who wants to propose a system?"

Claire pretended to think for a moment. "I get all of it."

Shion nodded. "A fair and impartial loot system, but I'm not going to be backing it, sadly."

"Man, Shion," Judy whined, "can't we just like, do what feels right?"

"No."

"To each according to their needs, and the fungible wealth in a communal pool," Midori contributed.

"Good idea, Midori!" Shion gave her a thumbs up. "All in favor?"

"Aye." "Aye." "Aye. I need all of it." "No you don't, Claire."

\---

After successfully clearing the goblins from the waterfall cave, everyone had packed up and called it a night. Midori was already fast asleep, and Ned and Claire had left. Shion and Judy were finishing preparing to get ready for bed.

"Thanks, Judy," Shion whispered. "It really meant a lot to finally get to play."

"No problem, Shishi," replied Judy with a grin.

"Did you have fun, too?"

"Absolutely! Never tried it before, but it was pretty fun. We should do it again."

"Yeah... I'd really like to. ... Thank you, Judy. This was a really fun birthday."

"Anything for you, Shishi."


	20. A Non-Autobiographical Story

Judy carefully knocked on the door to Shion's room. "Shion? Are you in there?" No response. Judy hadn't heard from Shion all day, and was getting concerned. "I'm coming in, okay?" Judy took her keycard out and swiped in to Shion's room to see... a totally dark room, Shion's face barely illuminated by her laptop screen. "Shion, honey," Judy whispered as she slowly stepped in. "Is everything okay?"

Shion slowly turned to Judy. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her face pale. She stared for several seconds, before shouting "3.2 ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH 2.6! HOW THE HELL DID IT DO THE INITIAL SYNC?! WHERE IS THE ERROR MESSAGE?! WHO DECIDED THIS WAS RELEASE QUALITY?!", grabbing her head as she screamed.

"... do you want to take a break? Maybe eat something."

"I've had pop tarts. I'm fine. Need to fix this. Talk tomorrow. Is it tomorrow yet? Then next tomorrow. Love you. Bye." Shion turned back to her laptop and started typing rapidly.

Judy decided it was probably best to leave Shion alone for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My schedule was... a bit tight, writing this one.


	21. Mandatory Beach Episode

mechenjin: you finally awake?  
judyh36: AGAINST MY WILL but yes  
mechenjin: taking summer break easy, i see :)  
judyh36: im done working hard. forever  
judyh36: effort is for people with more energy. im done  
mechenjin: so apostrophes are too much effort for you now  
judyh36: yep  
judyh36: just gonna lie here like a blob  
mechenjin: sounds like a good plan  
judyh36: how's my floofyboopkins doing  
mechenjin: omg judy  
judyh36: okay floofyboopkins off the table, got it  
mechenjin: omg  
mechenjin: i'm dying  
mechenjin: okay. okay i'm good now  
judyh36: floofyboopkins  
mechenjin: STOP  
judyh36: hehehe  
mechenjin: but yeah things are eh here  
judyh36: what's wrong?  
mechenjin: i told you we rented a beach house for next week, right?  
judyh36: yeah and i'm still jelly  
mechenjin: well, dad hurt his back yesterday and probably can't go now, and mom wants to stay home to take care of him  
judyh36: oh jeez! is he gpomg to be okay?  
judyh36: going*  
mechenjin: yeah, he's fine, just needs pain meds and rest  
mechenjin: like, it's selfish, but i really did want to go  
mechenjin: and mom said i could go on my own, but it seems kinda lonely to just stay at a beach house by myself for a week, y'know  
judyh36: omw  
judyh36: there in 6h  
mechenjin: judy what  
mechenjin: 6 what  
mechenjin: judy where are you on your way to  
mechenjin: wait, 6 hours?  
mechenjin: JUDY ARE YOU DRIVING HERE

\---

"This is the right road, right? Haven't seen any signs in ages," Judy asked.

Shion turned on her phone to check the GPS directions again. "Yep, should be coming up in a few minutes. Just keep driving and I'll tell you when we're there."

"Can do!"

Shion smiled. "Thanks for coming up here on such short notice, again. I really didn't expect you to or anything..."

"Thanks to your parents for letting me spend the night after driving up! The actual drive was nothing. A week-long beach vacation? Worth it."

"And being with me, of course."

"... Nah, it was pretty much just the beach," Judy replied with a mischeivous grin.

"Judy!" Shion chided her with a laugh. 

"It's true, though. I haven't been to the beach in... years now. And my family's never rented a beach house before."

"Well, now's the time to fix that! ... You did actually pack for a week before you drove up, right?"

Judy nodded. "Yep! Brought clothes, toiletries, all that. I only had an old swimsuit, but it should still fit."

"Are you much of the swimming type? I'm more of the laze around and enjoy the weather type."

"Yeah! I love just, getting out there, moving around. Feels good."

Shion giggled. "That's more than I can handle. You'll have to get enough exercise for the both of us."

"Aw, come on. You can't go to the beach and not go swimming!"

"Okay, okay. Once!"

"Once a day, right?"

"Don't push your luck... Oh, here it is!" Shion pointed at a house coming up quickly on the right. It was a small yellow beach house, barely big enough for a family but sufficient as a vacation place. Plus, most importantly, it was right on the beach - the backyard patio went right up to the sand, and the water wasn't far away. "Jeez, the view is lovely," Shion finally got out as Judy parked in the short driveway. "This looks like the perfect place to relax."

Judy turned off the car (not her car, she had explained earlier, one she borrowed from her parents, so don't spill anything), saying "Let's hurry up and relax then! You have the keys for the place?"

"Yep, right here!" Shion replied, jangling a set of keys. 

"Let's get going! I want to go get swimming while it's still the afternoon."

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"

\---

Judy lazily floated on her back in the ocean. Shion was in the house looking for a beach chair, so Judy had been swimming back and forth getting her sea legs back. The water was pleasant and comfortable, exactly like Judy liked it. As a kid she swam all the time at the local pool, but as she went to college that tapered off. Thankfully, her old black one-piece suit still fit just fine for swimming. Her family had been more of the winter vacation than summer vacation type, so the beach in particular was a rare treat. Plus, the thought of getting to spend the entire week alone with Shishi...

Judy heard a giant THWUMP and looked up from the ocean. Shion had unceremoniously plopped a lounge chair in the sand, a short ways from the water's edge. She clapped the sand off from her hands before seeing Judy in the water and waving. She was wearing a red bikini that was... a lot more daring than Judy ever expected Shion to wear. Wow. She waved back, shouting, "Hey Shishi! Come on in, the water's great!"

Shion hesitated, before quickly stepping up to the water and sticking her foot in. "Wow, it is a great temperature. Guess... I'll come in for a bit, I guess."

"Do you not know how to swim? I can help."

"No, no, I can swim, I just... I'm not very good," replied Shion as she kept walking until the water was at waist height. "I'm always afraid I'm gonna mess up when a wave hits me and flip out or something."

Judy swam over to Shion and stood up to give her a hug. "I'm right here if you need someone to hang on to, okay?"

"... okay. Thanks," replied Shion, relaxing in Judy's arms.

"Love that bikini, by the way. Didn't know you'd wear one," Judy whispered into Shion's ear.

Shion, blushing furiously, finally responded "... I got it for the next time we'd end up at the pool together. I... thought you might like it."

"Nailed it," replied Judy as she gave Shion a kiss.


	22. Second Anniversary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some time later...

Judy waved in Shion's face. "Hey, Shion, you okay? You've been zoning out for a while now."

Shion jumped in her seat. "Oh, sorry. Just... thinking about things."

Judy took another piece of sushi off her plate. "You okay? You've seemed weird ever since we left campus." 

It was their second anniversary now, and at Judy's request they had gone out for sushi once more to celebrate. Junior year had passed by in a daze - Shion's course load was overloaded, and had spent what little free time she had just decompressing from the stress. Worth it, but it meant she was even more of a shut-in than usual. Thankfully Judy had been there as support to help her get through the days, and here she was now. Her last year of college, and Judy's too. And...

"I dunno, it's just... I'm kind of realizing now that this is it. Our last year of college. We're... gonna be entering the real world soon." Shion poked at her food helplessly. Her appetite had been dying off all day from worry.

"Yep. Big times, big changes. Are you worried?"

"I mean like... not really, but... I mean, I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do, but I wanted to start applying to a bunch of robotics labs, see what's available. I'm sure that'll work out, it's just..." Shion trailed off. She didn't want to verbalize her fears, childishly hoping that maybe if she didn't vocalize it, it couldn't happen. No need to face her fears, just let it pass by. But... she couldn't.

Judy finished her food and pushed her plate away. "So... you're worried about me."

Shion sighed. No two ways around it. "... yeah. Yeah, I guess that's it."

"I mean, you know me. I want to put my music out there. I want to make music, play guitar, perform, and I'll do anything that lets me do that. I imagine I'll have to pick up some odd jobs here and there to make a living, but eventually I just want my music to be my full time thing, you know? So I'll see how it goes."

Judy wasn't going to say it. Shion had to push her. She couldn't bear to look Judy directly in the eye to say it, so she stared out the window instead. "That's good to hear, but... that's not quite what I'm worried about. I'm... worried about us."

"What's going to happen when you get a job and leave for who-knows-where."

"I mean... yeah. A lot of the places I want to go are on the east coast, and I don't want to ask you to move all the way out there just to be with me, but..."

Judy's gaze dug into Shion. Shion could feel herself blushing from the intensity, but didn't know how to react. It felt like an eternity before Judy finally said, "... well. You could. Could ask."

Shion took a deep breath. "... Would you? If I got a job on the east coast, and moved over there... would you come with me?"

"We have to see what job you get first, but... yeah. I would."

Shion could barely believe she heard correctly. She turned to face Judy, whose eyes were full of determination. "Really? You really would?"

Judy nodded. "I believe in us. I enjoy being with you. I want to see where this goes. I'd like to take the chance to be with you."

Shion let out a sigh of relief. "... Thank you, Judy. I was worried about that. Like this was going to be our last year together."

Judy grinned. "Not if I have a say in it. I love you, Shion." She reached her hand out over the table, and Shion took it in her own, and smiled.

"I love you too, Judy. ... I want to see where this goes too. I don't want this to end yet."

"Then let's not let it end," Judy replied firmly. "Okay, but seriously, are you going to finish your food, because I'm starving."

Shion giggled. "Sure, help yourself," she answered, pushing her plate over. Judy started scarfing down the rest of the sushi, and Shion couldn't help laughing at how cute her girlfriend was.


	23. Winter Of The Band

Shion put down the textbook she was reading. "Hey, Judy? What's your schedule like this weekend?"

Judy was aimlessly chewing on a pen, thinking intently about her own work. "Hmm? Uh, I don't think I have much planned. Why do you ask?"

Shion and Judy were out working on their homework in the pleasant summer weather. They had found a nice grassy area by one of Ford's soccer fields and had used one of Shion's spare blankets as a sort of picnic blanket. While Shion normally wasn't much for the sun, even she had to admit that the weather was pleasant outside. Plus, it made Judy happy, and seeing her happy was all the motivation Shion needed. It was an excuse to wear the new sun dress she got while out shopping with Judy as well.

"I was wondering, I've told you about my church services right?"

Judy took the pen out of her mouth and started spinning it aimlessly in her hand. "Yeah, a few times. What's up?"

"Well, Reverend Johnson mentioned we could have someone come in to perform during services next Sunday, and I was wondering if THE TERRAFORMERS," Shion said with a mock growl, "wanted to perform there."

Judy suddenly froze up. "... The band is kind of," she said hesitatingly, "on hiatus."

"Wait, what?" Shion turned to face Judy directly. "What happened? Did you guys break up?"

"Not exactly, it's... just... Ned's studying abroad in England this year. I just found out last month."

"And he didn't warn you ahead of time? Wait, then what band practice have you been going to?"

"It's been just me and Rain practicing. Andy's stopped showing up since we aren't going to be performing, but I wanted to keep getting more practice in..."

"Jeez, Judy, why didn't you say anything?" Shion reached over to give Judy a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, I figured something like this would happen eventually," replied Judy, leaning into the hug. "I didn't want to say anything because I was kinda... embarrassed, I guess."

"Aw, there's no reason to be embarrased. It's just something out of your control, and I'm glad you're still getting practice in. But really, this is an opportunity!"

"Opportunity for what? Without Ned, who's gonna sing? Who's gonna book us for anything?"

Shion beamed. Now was her chance! "Me, of course!"

Judy turned to stare. "Wait, what?"

"We can perform at my church! I'll talk to Reverend Johnson to set us up to perform, and I'll sing for it! They're super nice and supportive at the church, so even if I'm bad it should go well, and it's more performance experience for you! And- and that way we can like, trade hobbies! I'll join your band for a day and you'll come to church for a day? Is that okay? Am I being weird? I'm being weird, I'll stop."

Judy shook her head. "No, no, it's just... can you sing?"

"I mean, I can try. Is that okay? I'd really like to try."

Judy laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, I just... I never thought I'd heard you say you want to perform."

Shion blushed. "I mean, like, if it's in front of all my church friends, I could do it. I could never do it in front of a bunch of strangers like you could."

"You know, I still haven't met any of your church friends," Judy chided. "Trying to hide them from me?"

"No! Never!", Shion replied, letting go of Judy to wave her hands in denial. "It's just never come up before, but this... could be how I introduce you! A great way to show off my awesome rock girlfriend!"

"Honestly, that does sound pretty fun. And it's not like we're getting any other gigs..." Judy paused in thought. "Yeah, why not. You'll handle talking to the minister?"

Shion could barely restrain her excitement and bounced up and down. "Yeah! This is going to be great! Should I start coming to practice, so we can prep?"

Judy nodded. "Yeah, especially since I kinda have no idea what they'll want us to play."

"I can definitely help with that. Oh, jeez, I have to go email her right now!" Shion pulled out her phone and started typing an email, and Judy watched her girlfriend and marvelled at the new things she was learning about her every day.


	24. Two Players One Room

"mregl," Shion moaned into her pillow. 

"You finally awake?", asked Judy, awake and sitting at their desk. "It's like ten in the morning."

"mrlg you kept me up too late," countered Shion as she rolled to face the wall, curling herself in the covers as she did.

"Sorry, sorry," Judy replied, obviously not sorry at all. 

As seniors, Judy and Shion had gotten choice room selection for their assignments for the year. Judy had managed to get a room to herself, albeit a bit smaller than the doubles she had the previous two years. Shion had gotten a double room with Midori again, but had moved all her stuff in with Judy after a long talk where they realized they spent nearly all their time together anyways, and it'd be a natural progression of the relationship, and it'd mean less time apart and more cuddles (Judy's main horse in the race). Last Shion had seen, Midori had taken over Shion's half of the room, and took Shion's mattress and converted it and her own into a queen bed, so she was happy. And Shion was quite happy... except for times like these.

"is too early still. turn off lights."

"Shishi, honey," whispered Judy, standing up and reaching over to ruffle Shion's hair, "the lights have been on for hours now. You're just finally waking up."

"nooooooooo," groaned Shion in her last act of futile resistance. "Okay, fine, I'll get up. Meanie." Shion sat up straight and pouted. Judy couldn't help but laugh and lean in to give Shion a kiss, which Shion gladly reciprocated. "Now that's a much better way to wake me up," Shion replied cheerfully. 

"You wanna start getting ready? I wanted to go grab lunch in town and get back in time for practice. That sound good?"

Shion yawned. "Yeah- yeah, that sounds good. Is my... my thing around?" Shion lazily swirled her hand around in a circle. "The... thing."

"Your toiletries? Right here," Judy helpfully added as she sat back down and grabbed Shion's bag from her desk and handed it over. "Don't trip and die on the way there, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," Shion replied, brushing off Judy's worries. "I'm... good to walk." She hopped out of bed and walked for the door, pausing as she reached to open it. "... I should... probably put on real pants. Before I head to the showers."

"Yes," Judy replied. "You should probably wear pants before going out."

Shion collected herself. "Okay. I can do this... where did I put my sweat pants." She scratched her head in thought. "I can remember this..."

Judy stood up from her desk again and reached under their bed for the cabinets underneath. They had fully scavenged Shion's room aside from the bed they didn't have a use for, which included some school-provided drawers. It had ended up for the best, as Judy's closet, while not super full, still barely had enough room for Shion's stuff that needed to be hanged, let alone the rest of Shion's clothes. Judy pulled a pair of blue sweats from the bottom drawer and handed them to Shion.

Shion took them and stared at them doubtfully. "... are these mine? I don't recognise them."

"Yes, Shishi. They're yours. Look," Judy said, sitting back down and pointing at the drawer. "I'm pretty sure the pajama pants covered in Voltrons belong to you, so that's definitely your drawer."

"Those aren't Voltrons! They're Golions," Shion pouted.

"Honey, it says Voltron right next to it. They're Voltrons."

"... I want to believe they're Golions. Don't crush my dreams."

"Aw, I'm sorry. Come here for a hug," said Judy, arms outstretched. Shion shuffled over and accepted Judy's hug, along with a quick kiss from her. "You feel better now? You good to go take a shower?" 

"Yeah, I'm good now. Sorry, I'm just..." said Shion before being interrupted by a big yawn. "Sleepy. But I'll be good in a bit." She quickly put on the pants, and with a smile and a "See you later", stepped out the door to get ready for the day.

Judy grinned. Shion was cute with her defenses down like that. Now then, though, she had to work on some music plans. Something that Shion could sing without exerting herself too much...


	25. Last Practice

"Hmm," Judy half-said half-thought. She had been doing her daily practice, but had stopped to stare at ol' Bessie the guitar halfway through. 

Shion, who was sitting next to her (careful not to accidentally bump into Judy and ruing everything), was torn. At first, she didn't want to disturb Judy, especially while Judy was wearing her headphones, but at this point she was too curious. "What's up, Judy?"

"I'm wondering if I should finally upgrade Bessie. She's been good, but... the sound could be better, y'know?"

Shion closed her laptop and leaned back in her chair. "... Okay, it's time for me to admit I have no idea what's going on. How could the sound be better?"

"Well, uh..." Judy hesistated. "You probably would understand the physics a lot better than I could, but the pickups don't... well, pick up the sound as well as they could. There's more frequencies it could be picking up appropriately, make better sounds. And there's lots of little parts that all add together to make the whole sound... better. It's kind of hard to explain unless you've heard a good guitar versus a bad guitar. Well. Hard for me."

"Don't worry about it, okay?", replied Shion, giggling. "I'll just read up on it online. So what's stopping you from upgrading now?"

"I mean, it's kind of a 'I can spend as much as I'm willing to spend' situation, you know? So I gotta plan out exactly what I want, read reviews to make sure I know what I'm getting into, maybe get to Guitar Center to test out a bunch, plus I'm not sure if I want to change how Bessie sounds so close to us performing. Even if it's an improvement, if I don't know what I'm doing with it I'm worried it'll be bad."

"Well, do you want to go shopping this weekend? That's still a week of practice you could get in with new parts before we perform."

Judy sighed. "Then that runs into the other problem. I'm kind of stone broke at the moment. I used up most of the cash I got from gigs last year already, and without a summer job..."

Shion shrugged. "I mean, I could buy some parts for you. I still have most of my tutoring and internship money and nothing to spend it on."

Judy turned to stare. "Wait, really? You'd just... buy them? Shion, new pickups like the one I want are like a hundred dollars at least. You sure that'd be okay?"

"I mean, I'd trust you with my money, Judy. I know you wouldn't spend it wastefully or anything like that. And if it'd make you happy," Shion said with a smile, "it's money well spent."

Judy paused, before shaking her head. "No, I can't take advantage of you like that. I don't want to be some moocher, just taking your money for myself. I gotta make it on my own-" But before she could finish, Shion leaned in and grabbed her in a tight hug.

"You don't have to make it on your own. I'm here for you, and I always want to be, okay?" whispered Shion. In her voice, Judy could hear... sadness? No... worry. "I love you, Judy. And I want to share what I have with you, okay?"

"... Okay. Thanks, Shishi," Judy whispered back. "... you really are that serious about us, huh?"

"... yeah. It's not just that I don't want to leave you. I always want to be with you. Is that... alright?"

Judy pulled Shion in tighter, and rustled her hair. "It's absolutely alright, Shion. I always want to be with you too. And I love you on top," she punctuated with a kiss. And while Judy couldn't see Shion's face, she knew Shion was smiling. "How about we go shopping this weekend? If you help me sign off on the ones that sound best to you, maybe I'll feel better about spending your money."

Shion nodded against Judy's chest. "Sounds like a good plan. For now, I just want to hug you a bit longer."

"Now that sounds like a great plan."


	26. Emails

From: dedelman@prometheus.com  
To: suzuki@jfc.edu  
Subject: Phone Interview with Prometheus Robotics

Hi Shion,

Congratulations on being selected to move forward in the interviewing process!

Please have a look at your calendar and respond with available times you’d be able to have a 60 min phone screen with my hiring manager.

I look forward to taking next steps!

-Darius Edelman

\---

From: suzuki@jfc.edu  
To: anna_uzuki@yahoo.com, suouuzuki@skynet.com  
Subject: FWD: Phone Interview with Prometheus Robotics

1) Mom! Dad! I'm going to get a phone interview! Yay!  
2) Help! I have no idea what I'm doing!

Forwarded content below:  
...

\---

From: ngoyle@corvin.edu  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, rsinclair@levin.edu, andy@andy.com  
Subject: I'm sorry

Hey guys,

I'm sorry it took so long for me to get in contact with all of you. I was so embarrassed by my mistake that I didn't want to face you guys again, but I can't keep running from it. I'm sorry I left you guys high and dry without asking. I'm sorry I didn't respond to your emails. I'm sorry I didn't have a plan for what you guys were going to do while I'm gone. I hope you guys can find it in your heart to forgive me, and still found ways to live your dreams. This opportunity was amazing for me, and I couldn't turn it down, and I hope you all understand. Thanks, guys, and may the spirit of THE TERRAFORMERS never die,

-Ned

\---

From: andy@andy.com  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, rsinclair@levin.edu, ngoyle@corvin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

huh? i quit, did i miss something?

\---

From: rsinclair@levin.edu  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, andy@andy.com, ngoyle@corvin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

Andy, you quit without a word? Just flew off like a tiny bird?  
I thought your qualms lied with Ned, or you were found in a ditch dead.  
But to see your crime laid bare, your treatment of us hardly seems fair.

Seriously man, dick move.

Anyways, Ned, don't worry about it. Gotta reach for your dreams when you get the chance, y'know? If it's okay, Judy was setting some performance up with Shion singing. You cool if we use THE TERRAFORMERS name for that? That was always your baby.

Signed, Rain

\---

From: andy@andy.com  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, rsinclair@levin.edu, ngoyle@corvin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

yeah, I got bored. woops.

\---

From: ngoyle@corvin.edu  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, rsinclair@levin.edu, andy@andy.com  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

Thank you for your forgiveness, Rain. And screw you, Andy. Judy, you absolutely have my blessing to use THE TERRAFORMERS name. I know how much the band meant to you, and I'm not gonna deny you that now. Take good care of my baby, you hear?

-Ned

\---

From: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
To: rsinclair@levin.edu, ngoyle@corvin.edu, andy@andy.com  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

Water under the bridge, Ned. Not gonna lie, I was kinda pissed at first, but I'm past it now. Glad you're having a good time in England. We're gonna kick ass anyways and keep on keeping on! THE TERRAFORMERS never die! 

Except you, Andy. You suck.

Back on topic, though, I'm gonna take one of those songs we were working on before you scampered and have Shion as our lead singer, if that's cool. Which it is, because you owe me a dozen.

-Judy

\---

From: andy@andy.com  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu, rsinclair@levin.edu, ngoyle@corvin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

man the way you guys are acting it's like i stabbed you i nthe back with no warning

\---

From: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
To: rsinclair@levin.edu, ngoyle@corvin.edu, andy@andy.com  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

YOU DID.

\---

From: ngoyle@corvin.edu  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

Hey, Judy,

You're right, I do owe you one. I know Rain's going to grad school, and screw Andy, seriously, but you're going to be working on your music as soon as you graduate, right? My uncle owns a record shop in Boston. He's got a ton of connections to the local music scene, and I can convince him to hire you on as a store clerk, maybe guitar lessons on the side. It'll be good money while you're getting started, and it's better than bussing tables. Say the word and I'll call him up, hook you up after graduation. 

-Ned

\---

From: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
To: ngoyle@corvin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

That's actually a tempting offer. I'm going to have to see where Shion ends up getting a job, but I know she's interviewing with a few places in the area. Once she gets something settled down, I'll call that favor in. Sound good?

\- Judy

\---

From: ngoyle@corvin.edu  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
Subject: RE: I'm sorry

Aw, you gonna move out east with her? Knew you guys were gonna go the distance. Invite me to your wedding, wouldn't miss it.

-Ned

\---

From: dedelman@prometheus.com  
To: suzuki@jfc.edu  
Subject: Interview with Prometheus Robotics

Hi Shion!

I received positive feedback yesterday. Daniel would like to have you come onsite for an in-person interview with the team.

Let me know when you would be available for a quick catch-up call sometime today to go over what next steps look like.

Thank you!

-Darius Edelman

\---

From: suzuki@jfc.edu  
To: dedelman@prometheus.com  
Subject: RE: Interview with Prometheus Robotics

Hi!

Thank you so much! I'm available any time today to go over the next steps. Looking forward to the interview!

-Shion Uzuki

\---

From: suzuki@jfc.edu  
To: anna_uzuki@yahoo.com, suouuzuki@skynet.com  
Subject: FWD: Interview with Prometheus Robotics

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

Forwarded content below:  
...

\---

From: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
To: shannon_hawthorne@gmail.com  
Subject: Can I come over tonight?

Hey mom,

I wanted to come ask you a few things tonight. Things with Shion have gotten pretty serious, and I wanted some advice about the future, if that's okay. I think it'd be better if we talked in person.

-Judy

\---

From: shannon_hawthorne@gmail.com  
To: jhawthorne@levin.edu  
Subject: RE: Can I come over tonight?

Hi Honey,

You know you can ALWAYS come ask me if you need ANYTHING! I am ALWAYS here for you, my precious child, and I'll give you what little advice I can. Can't WAIT to see you,

-Mom


	27. The Church

Reverend Mary hovered around the stage as Judy, Shion, and Rain set up their equipment. "Do you girls need anything? Is the setup going okay?"

Shion looked up from the cables she was untangling to smile and wave the reverend off. "We're just fine, Reverend Mary. Don't worry about us, okay?"

Judy nodded as she made a few test strums on her guitar. "We're trained professionals! We've got this."

"Thank you very much, Reverend Johnson, but I think we have it handled." Rain was like a different person around the reverend - prim, proper, respectful. Shion hadn't seen that side of her before, but Judy had vouched for her behavior with authority. 

"Okay, just making sure. I'm so looking forward to seeing you and your band perform, Shion!" Mary clapped her hands in joy.

Shion rubbed her head. "Aw, it's not really my band, I'm just volunteering. It's really Judy's band, she's the one who's put the effort into getting it going."

"Well then, thank you Judy for giving Shion this opportunity and coming here to perform."

"No prob, really! You couldn't stop me from trying to perform if you tried," Judy replied with a smug grin.

"Well, I'll leave you girls to it then. Call me if you need any help! I'll be in my office preparing for the sermon," said the reverend as she stepped through a side door into a small office.

Shion took a deep breath. It was almost time for the service to start... they had shown up early to prepare their instruments and get some last minute practice in, but Shion's nerves were through the roof. Singing had gone well in practice, but... in front of a crowd? At least it was everyone she went to church with and not strangers, but in a way that was worse. What if she did badly and Mark couldn't look her in the eye anymore? What if she embarrassed herself in front of Nikki? Shion resisted the urge to tear her hair out in panic.

Behind her, Judy put down her guitar, turned to look at Rain, and nodded. Rain nodded back and loudly said "Well, guess I should go to the bathroom before we start, I'm all set up and I gotta go," before walking off to the bathroom. Judy internally groaned. God, that was terrible. But at least Rain got the memo. Judy turned to face Shion, who was busy taking deep breaths. 

"Hey, Shishi. You feeling okay?" Judy walked up and hugged Shion from behind.

Shion jumped a little, but relaxed once she realized it was just Judy. "Yeah, just a bit of stage fright. You had to go through that when you started, right?"

Judy nodded as Shion turned around to face her. "You get used to it eventually, but the first time is always scary. Putting yourself out there, exposing yourself like that, it takes a lot of courage."

"Yeah..." Shion said wistfully, before giggling. "You really help though."

"Oh really? You think so?" Judy replied inquisitively.

"Yes, definitely. With you I feel... secure. Like we can take on anything together."

"Yeah... anything." Judy paused, hesitating, before continuing. "Hey, Shion? Can I ask you something? Something important?"

Shion nodded. "Sure! You're always here for me, I've always got to be here for you."

Judy got down on one knee and, before Shion could parse what was going on, pulled out a ring box from her pocket and opened it to reveal a sparkling diamond ring. "Shion Uzuki, will you marry me?"

Shion gasped, her breath gone.

"You don't have to decide now, but I just - wanted to ask you, and-"

"Yes, Judy Hawthorne. Absolutely yes," Shion finally replied, nodding, tears in her eyes.

"... Really? Yes?" Shion nodded. "Can I put the ring on?" Shion nodded once more, extending her hand as Judy took the ring out and slid it onto Shion's finger. "Sorry if it's a bit of a loose fit, it's my great-grandmother's ring. We can get it resized if you want, but-"

"P-please don't worry about it, Judy. I- it's perfect," interrupted Shion through her tears. 

Judy stood up and hugged Shion, pulling her in close. "I love you, Shion. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Shion sniffled, pulling through the tears. "I-I'm so happy... I love you, Judy. And I w-want to be with you, t-too."

The two stood there, holding each other, and to them, it felt like a single, perfect, serene, eternity.


	28. Epilogue

Ned ended up staying in London. He's a product manager at an up-and-coming tech firm. He brings the house down at karaoke nights.

Midori broke up with her boyfriend over creative differences. She's now in training for rally racing in the California mountains, using her degree to finance it.

Rain is working at her family's store while she tries to get a book published, titled 'Cosmic Teardrops.' She's not ecstatic about the title, but she's proud for committing herself and getting something out there.

Claire is doing freelance art work. She's considering getting into game development.

Judy and Shion now live in Boston. Shion is working at Prometheus Robotics, and Judy is working at the music store. They have a small apartment together, which they are slowly working on decorating. They own one car, a Prius, which Shion drives. The wedding is set to take place at Shion's childhood church, on August 27th, a year and some after the engagement. Planning is proceeding apace, but Shion refuses to let Judy be the band for the reception. They're considering adopting a dog: Judy wants a golden retriever, and Shion wants a shiba inu. They are enjoying life and each other quite well.

I, meanwhile, am once and for all finally done with this work. Thank you for reading.


End file.
